Human Rights Watch Calls Recent Mass Executions in Iran 'Shameful'

In response to the recent mass executions in Iran, Human Rights Watch on Monday, August 9, described the execution of 20 prisoners in Iran as 'a shameful point in the human rights record' of the Islamic Republic. Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, stated that since the beginning of January this year, Iran has recorded at least 220 executions, making it the highest in the region. Iranian judicial authorities announced on August 3 that 20 members of a group called 'Tawhid and Jihad' were executed on charges of 'terrorist activities.' Reports indicate that most of those executed were Kurdish and Sunni. Human Rights Watch, based in New York, added that the two lawyers representing these individuals claimed that their clients' trials were not fair and their rights were violated during the proceedings. The recent executions have sparked widespread reactions from around the world, prompting Iranian officials to respond. Various international bodies, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, have described the execution of twenty prisoners in Iran as 'a great injustice' and expressed doubts about the fairness of the trials. In contrast, Iranian officials condemned the foreign reactions, with Sadegh Larijani, head of Iran's judiciary, calling these protests 'strange.' Molavi Abdolhamid, the Sunni Friday prayer leader of Zahedan, is among the critics who described this action as 'lacking foresight and tolerance' given the 'sensitive' regional conditions. According to reports from AFP, human rights groups believe that the 20 executed individuals are part of a group of 33 Sunni men who were arrested in 2009 and 2010 and accused of 'waging war against God.' Human Rights Watch added that recent changes in Iran's penal code require the judiciary to reconsider and annul 'waging war against God' sentences if the convicted did not use weapons to commit crimes. Iranian officials accuse the executed individuals of actions such as 'the assassination of Mawlawi Borhan Ali, a Sunni cleric, and Mawlawi Sheikh al-Islam,' 'preparing various and multiple weapons and constructing over 50 bombs ready for detonation,' 'committing several armed robberies from jewelry stores in the cities of Qorveh, Zanjan, and Hamadan,' and killing 'a number of environmental guards in Kurdistan province.' Many of these individuals have denied the charges and stated in videos and writings released from them that they had been in 'solitary confinement' and 'under torture' for a long time. Among them, Shahram Ahmadi, one of those executed, stated that he had spent 33 months in solitary confinement, was sentenced to death in a 'five-minute' trial, and was 'not allowed to defend himself or access a lawyer.' Amnesty International also noted that Iran was one of the world leaders in executions in 2015, with 977 executions, most of whom were accused of drug trafficking.