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As of December 1, at least 690 prisoners have been executed in Iran in 2023, according to human rights groups Iran Human Rights Center and Oslo-based Hengo Human Rights Group. The data is based on official Iranian statistics.
But rights groups say a significant number of unreported executions take place hidden from public view, often only coming to light years after the families are brave enough to speak out. I think there are many.
“The world is preoccupied with the war in Gaza. The Islamic Republic of Iran is taking full advantage of the situation to repress its critics, particularly with executions that I characterize as vengeful state murders. and threaten society through violence.” Iranian human rights activist Saeed Dehgan told DW.
Dehgan, who has been living in Canada since 2022, has established a global network of Iranian lawyers. He heads a legal center called Parsi Law that provides legal advice to the Iranian people. The center also supports efforts by international organizations, including United Nations agencies, to improve human rights in Iran.
“The sad reality is that as soon as the streets of Iran are cleared of protesters, the country will be forgotten and the international community will return to business-as-usual relations with the Islamic Republic,” Dehgan said.
“Human rights activists understand that every country in the world pursues its own interests. Still, the large-scale repression in Iran must not be ignored, especially when human rights are considered fundamental principles of politics. Western politicians, who are one, must not be ignored.”
Iran cracks down on women’s rights movement
At least eight people arrested during nationwide women’s rights demonstrations with the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom” have been sentenced to death in sham trials and executed in recent months.
One of them was 21-year-old Milad Zorevand. On November 30th, he was executed without any warning or opportunity to say goodbye to his family. While in prison, Zohlewand was not allowed access to a lawyer or to his family, human rights activists said.
“Genocide and killings do not only occur in wars,” imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi wrote in a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
In this open letter, shared with DW by Mohammadi’s husband, she calls on the UN human rights commissioner to take urgent, decisive and swift action to stop executions in Iran.
“In a world where everything is globalized, is humanity an exception? Is it enough to make a written statement? Is the will paralyzed by empty and baseless excuses?” Mohammadi wrote.
Since December 3, Iranian authorities have cut off all ties between Mr. Muhammadi and the outside world. She is not allowed to make phone calls or receive her visitors. Her voice, and those of other critics, were silenced.
On December 2nd, Iranian rapper Toumaji Salehi was arrested a few days after being released from prison. Judicial authorities justified his arrest with statements in the video that allegedly “spread lies and violated public opinion.”
The musician had posted a video sharing details of how he was arrested and harassed. Salehi was initially arrested in autumn 2022 for showing solidarity with nationwide women’s rights protests and later sentenced to six years in prison.
There is no room for freedom of speech in Iran
Iranian journalists and media professionals are under tremendous pressure not to publish any critical articles.
At the end of November, Tehran’s public prosecutor’s office took legal action against the newspaper. etemadHe carefully criticizes the government.
The newspaper published a secret document showing excerpts from a ministerial directive on “arrest” and “other measures” against women who refuse to wear the compulsory headscarf in public.
According to the document, the duties of Iran’s “morality police” include taking photos and videos of women to ensure compliance with dress codes in “metropolitan areas,” including “in wagons.” There is.
The paper published the document after Iran’s interior minister claimed on November 22 that female moral watchdogs are citizens who want to “fulfill their religious duties and prohibit evil.” did.
The latest victim of this ostensible sense of religious obligation was a 16-year-old schoolgirl who was found without a headscarf on her way to school in early October.According to sources who spoke to the British newspaper guardianshe was attacked by a morality police officer on the subway.
She did not go to school that day and fell into a coma and was taken to the hospital. She subsequently died, and she was buried at the end of October.
This article was originally written in German.
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