Continued Criticism of Executions; De-Violent Legislation is Today's Necessity for Iran

About 230 cultural, social, and political activists issued a statement on Wednesday, February 3, opposing the issuance and execution of death sentences by the judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, emphasizing that "de-violence of laws and judicial courts is a necessity for today's Iran." The signatories of the statement, published on the Telegram channel "Iran Farda Magazine," criticized the "wave of executions," citing international reports indicating that at least 901 people were executed in Iran in 2024. Currently, at least 54 "political and security" prisoners are on death row in Iranian prisons under charges including "baghi, moharebeh, and ifsad fil-arz." The signatories wrote: "Continuous executions, whether political, security, or social, apart from being devoid of fairness and justice, will also bring waves of hatred and numerous social harms, and if continued, will likely become even more turbulent." They believe that "what is missing in the excessive issuance of death sentences is judicial restraint, flexibility, and forgiveness." The statement also referred to the death sentences for civil rights activists Pakhshan Azizi and Varisheh Moradi, stating: "While deeming these unjust sentences as wrongful, we insist on the cessation of all death penalty sentences and continue to press for the humanitarian demand of 'No to the Death Penalty.'" Among the signatories are Abotaleb Adinehvand, Hamid Asafi, Mohammad Reza Ahmadi, Zahra Amani, Elaheh Amirantezam, Hoshyar Ansarifar, Mostafa Badkoubeihazaveh, Hashem Barooti, Masoud Pedram, Habibollah Peyman, Amir Khorram, Nasser Daneshfar, Amir Khosrow Delirsani, Masoumeh Dehghan, Nezamoddin Ghahari, Alireza Rajei, Akram Zinali, Eisa Saharkhiz, Parvaneh Salhashouri, and Ehsan Shariati. Other signatories include Hormoz Sharifian, Firoozeh Saber, Keyvan Samimi, Tahereh Taleghani, Ismail Alavi, Abolfazl Ghadiani, Rahim Qamishi, Ejlal Ghavami, Mohammad Hossein Karroubi, Fatemeh Ghoorayi, Eskandar (Souran) Lotfi, Leila Layeghat, Fakhr al-Sadat Mohtashami Pour, Mehdi Mahmoudian, Saeed Madani, Badr al-Sadat Mofidi, Saeedeh Montazeri, Abdollah Momeni, Leila Mirghafari, and Hassan Yousefi Ashkouri. Simultaneously, a number of students from Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran issued a statement titled "No to Executions," stating: "It is time to declare more loudly: the government has no right to kill us, none of us, without any excuse or justification. This 'no' is a definite and unquestionable 'no.'" They pointed out that "the government, for its survival and to maintain the common interests of its supporting minority, imposes ostensibly legal punishments using ideology and presents its crimes against citizens in the name of law," adding: "Execution is one of these punishments." In this statement, execution is referred to as a "harbinger of terror and fear," whose "existential philosophy is nothing but the suppression of the masses." A group of students from Tarbiat Modares University stated: "Execution in the Islamic Republic has no intention of punishment and establishing justice; rather, it is a means of instilling fear in the population through the display of tyranny." The signatories of the statement noted: "What keeps tyrannical and autocratic governments in power (though not forever) is the dominance of fear and terror. This is why resorting to execution squads in autocratic and dictatorial political systems is a long-standing habit, and in the Islamic Republic, it is justified under various pretexts: sometimes in the name of security, sometimes in the name of justice." A part of the statement reads: "Execution in the Islamic Republic has no intention of punishment and establishing justice; rather, it is a means of feeding the regime and instilling fear in the population through the display of tyranny." The statement concludes by emphasizing: "A society that respects human dignity and honor has no place for gallows." The increase in the issuance and execution of death sentences by the judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran has faced widespread global protests. Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed serious concern on January 7 about the significant increase in executions in Iran last year. Alongside international human rights organizations, the US Department of State condemned the "increasing use of executions by the Iranian regime to suppress the people." On January 13, the department emphasized continued support for the people of Iran in the face of "relentless human rights violations" by the Islamic Republic on its official Persian page on the social media platform "X."