Human Rights Watch: Iranian Government Uses Executions to Suppress Ethnic Minorities

Human Rights Watch states that officials of the Islamic Republic use executions "as a tool to instill terror," particularly against ethnic minorities and political opponents. On Wednesday, November 30, the organization noted a new wave of death sentences against ethnic minorities, political activists, and foreign nationals in Iran, declaring that these individuals are "facing widespread violations of due process laws." The statement referenced the sentence issued against Varisheh Moradi, a political prisoner and member of the "Free Women of Eastern Kurdistan Society," which was issued on November 20 this year by Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Abolghasem Salavati. Reports indicate that Ms. Moradi was held in solitary confinement during her detention and was "tortured," and was not allowed to defend herself or have her lawyers present during court sessions. The Iranian Writers' Association condemned the issuance of death sentences. In her initial indictment, a prison sentence of up to 15 years was requested for her, but Judge Salavati issued a death sentence instead. Nahid Naghashbandi, an Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch, stated: "This ruthless tactic by an autocratic government [the Islamic Republic] is designed to suppress any dissent through the creation of fear and terror." Ms. Naghashbandi added: "Iran's revolutionary courts are systematic tools of repression that violate citizens' fundamental rights and issue death sentences without regard for legal principles." The Human Rights Watch statement also referred to the death sentences issued against five Kurdish men accused of "spying for Israel" by the Urmia Revolutionary Court. According to a report from the Kurdistan Human Rights Organization, the Urmia Revolutionary Court sentenced Naser Bakrzadeh, a resident of Urmia, to death in mid-November this year. A few days later, the court issued death sentences in two separate cases for Idris Ali and Azadi Shojaei from Sardasht, West Azerbaijan, and Shahin Vasaaf from Salmas and Rasul Ahmad Rasul from the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The organization also noted the death sentences issued against six defendants in the case known as "Ekbatān" as part of the Islamic Republic's policy of "creating terror." Branch 13 of the Tehran Criminal Court sentenced Milad Armon, Alireza Kafayi, Amir Mohammad Khoshghbal, Navid Najaran, Hossein Nemat, and Alireza Barmarzpournak to "qisas nafs" (retribution in kind). Human Rights Watch further highlighted the imminent execution of Ali Majdam, Mohammad Reza Moghadam, Moein Khonfari, and Adnan Ghabishavi (Mousavi), who were sentenced to death by the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court along with Habib Darisi and Salem Mousavi on charges of "participating in the murder of two Basij members, a police officer, and a soldier." The organization also reported on the execution of Afghan citizens in Iran, stating that at least 49 Afghan citizens have been executed in Iran this year, with 13 of those occurring just last month. May Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, also expressed concern two weeks ago over the rising number of executions in Iran, emphasizing that the number of executions in Iran "has certainly increased in recent months."