Global Reactions Continue to the Executions of Mohammad Qabadi and Farhad Salimi: Accountability for Executioners in Iran

Reactions to the execution of Mohammad Qabadi and Farhad Salimi on the morning of Tuesday, January 23, in Qazalhasar Prison in Karaj by the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic continue. Human Rights Watch issued a statement warning that Iranian officials have recently "intensified executions at an alarming rate," noting that at least 11 other prisoners facing political or security charges are at risk of execution, which under international law should never lead to capital punishment as it constitutes a serious violation of the right to life. The organization added that other countries should pressure Iran to end the death penalty for such charges. The Human Rights Campaign in Iran also stated: "The state-sanctioned killings of Mohammad Qabadi and Farhad Salimi once again demonstrate that the silence and inaction of the international community in the face of ongoing inhumane and human rights-violating behaviors in Iran only empower the killing machine of the Islamic Republic." Meanwhile, Dozan Takal, a Yazidi-German journalist and filmmaker and director of the human rights organization "Hawar Help" in Germany, called on the German government to sever its diplomatic and economic relations with the Islamic Republic, referencing the executions of Mohammad Qabadi and Farhad Salimi and the wave of executions in Iran last year. Ms. Takal referred to the execution of Mohammad Qabadi as "judicial murder" and noted that Farhad Salimi was a Kurdish political prisoner from the city of Saqqez, the city of Jina Mahsa Amini, who had been imprisoned for 14 years. According to the director of Hawar Help, Farhad Salimi was executed on charges of "membership in a terrorist organization," which he confessed to under torture. She stated that after these executions, "our work does not end" and added: "Our political sponsors are compiling a list and evidence of the state agents involved in these executions, and we will send them to the German government and prosecutor's office to facilitate international legal arrangements and sanctions in Germany and the European Union." Additionally, the "Justice Team" initiative for executed political prisoners was unveiled in the German Parliament. Dozan Takal emphasized that the Hawar Help organization, given the wave of judicial killings (over 800 cases in 2023) in Iran, is asking the German government to cut its political and economic ties with the Islamic Republic. She also called for the European Union to include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its list of terrorist organizations. Ms. Takal wrote: "A regime that kills its youth has no future." Norbert Röttgen, a representative of the Christian Democratic Party and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Parliament (Bundestag), also wrote on X: "Enduring this injustice is hard. It is also difficult to tolerate that representatives of the Iranian regime are still welcomed in many countries." Martina Renner, a representative of the Left Party in Germany, criticized the lack of pressure on the federal government to isolate the Islamic Republic. Dietmar Bartsch, a representative of the Left Party in the German Parliament, reacted to a tweet by Mina Khani, a human rights activist and feminist, who wrote to the international community: "You have left us alone," stating: "You are not alone." He added: "The mullah regime is killing people" and urged the German government to "increase the pressure." Previously, the Iran Human Rights Organization condemned the execution of Mohammad Qabadi "in the strongest terms" and called on the international community to react firmly to stop the Islamic Republic's execution machine. The Abdolrahman Boroumand Foundation for Human Rights also described the execution of Mohammad Qabadi as an example of "arbitrary and illegal execution" and emphasized that under current Iranian laws and criminal jurisprudence, such an act is equivalent to "premeditated murder." Furthermore, Mark Wallace, executive director of the "United Against a Nuclear Iran" organization, called for swift action from the U.S. government against the Islamic Republic. He wrote on X: "The corrupt regime of Khamenei committed this crime while the Iranian Foreign Minister was in New York." He called for the revocation of Hussein Amirabdollahian's visa and stated: "America's borders should not be open to the murderers of the Iranian people." The non-profit organization "National Union for Democracy in Iran" based in the U.S. wrote on X: "This morning in Tehran, as the call to prayer sounded, Khamenei executed Mohammad Qabadi. He was a protester for freedom and human rights whose punishment was hanging. This organization further addressed Ben Cardin, a Democratic senator from Maryland, stating that he "is refraining from advancing the Mahsa Law to sanction Khamenei." The U.S. House of Representatives passed the "Mahsa Law" with 410 votes in favor and three against in September 2023. If passed in the Senate, this law will require the government to sanction senior officials of the Islamic Republic, including Ali Khamenei, for "suppressing the protests of the Iranian people" and "violating human rights." Masoud Ghara Khani, an Iranian-born president of the Norwegian Parliament, described Qabadi's execution as lacking "legal certainty" and "severe brutality," expressing sympathy for his parents. Darya Safai, an Iranian-born representative in the Belgian Parliament, wrote on X that Qabadi was executed, but the spirit of the Iranian people will not rest, and they will strive to bring down this regime. Ms. Safai wrote: "The world will be a safer place without these monsters," and called for a response from the international community, noting that the Islamic Republic poses a threat to global security. The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) also condemned this "horrific violation of international human rights obligations" by the Islamic Republic on its X account, stating: "We stand with all Iranians who are still unjustly detained as prisoners of conscience." The Judiciary of the Islamic Republic executed Mohammad Qabadi, a 23-year-old protester who was arrested during the nationwide protests of 2022 in Tehran, and Farhad Salimi, a Sunni political prisoner, in Qazalhasar Prison in Alborz Province on the morning of Tuesday, January 23. Amnesty International had previously stated in a release before the execution of Mr. Qabadi that "the head of the judiciary must stop the arbitrary and illegal execution of Mohammad Qabadi, which has been suddenly scheduled for tomorrow. The case of this young man with a mental disorder, who was arrested during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, is based on confessions obtained under torture and has been conducted secretly." Mohammad Qabadi was one of the detainees from last year's nationwide protests in Iran, accused of "corruption on earth" through "widespread action against the police officers of the motorized forces, resulting in the death of officer Farid Kermpour and the injury of five police officers." Amir Reisi, Mohammad Qabadi's lawyer, reported on Tuesday that he received a "notification of execution" for this young protester and stated that his client was to be executed on Tuesday, January 23. Many figures, organizations, and social media users widely called for the halt of his execution. Dozens of political and ideological female prisoners in Evin are on hunger strike in protest against the executions. Reactions to the execution of Mohammad Qabadi and Farhad Salimi: "Retribution" by the Islamic Republic against the Iranian people. Reactions to the execution of Mohammad Qabadi: extrajudicial killing and crime; Khamenei must be held accountable. Two executions in one day; Hengaw: The Islamic Republic also executed Farhad Salimi.