Iran executes almost 100 in 2 months with prisoners tortured and sexually assaulted
Iran has put 94 people to death this year, human rights groups have said, representing a sharp rise in executions of ethnic minorities in the country. There have also been reports of sexual violence and torture against those detained.
Roya Boroumand of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center and Amnesty International have published research which laid out the worrying treatment of people in Iran.
Of the 94 executed, 28 were from ethnic minorities.
Ms Boroumand said: “The Iranian authorities are carrying out executions on a frightening scale.”
Of the 28 minority group members executed, 19 were convicted of drug-related offences, seven of murder, and two were put to death for charges of “spreading corruption on earth” and “enmity against God”, neither of which meet the principle of legality.
In February, an Ahwazi Arab man and a Kurdish man were executed in secret after an unfair trial.
Six more Ahwazi Arabs and six Baluchis have received the death penalty in recent weeks.
Some of these people’s charges relate to the ogoing protests against the regime regarding the rights of women in Iran.
Ms Boroumand, Abdorrahman Boroumand Center’s Executive Director, said:”The Iranian authorities are carrying out executions on a frightening scale.
“Their actions amount to an assault on the right to life and a shameless attempt not only to further oppress ethnic minorities but to spread fear that dissent will be met with brute force, either in the streets or in the gallows.”
Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, said: “It is harrowing that executions routinely occur amid the systematic use of torture-tainted ‘confessions’ to convict defendants in grossly unfair trials.
“The world must act now to pressure the Iranian authorities to establish an official moratorium on executions, quash unfair convictions and death sentences, and drop all charges related to the peaceful participation in protests
“We also urge all states to exercise universal jurisdiction over all Iranian officials reasonably suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes under international law and other grave violations of human rights.”
On February 20, an Ahwazi Arab man was executed in Sepidar prison in Khuzestan province while a Kurdish man named Arash Ahmadi was executed on February 22 in Kermanshah province.
Sources that spoke to Amnesty International said that, following the arrests of these men, interrogators subjected both men to torture and other abuse to force them into false confessions.
