Iran's Foreign Ministry Condemns Foreign Reactions to Execution of 20 Prisoners

Bahram Qasemi, the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, condemned the recent statements from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as well as European and American officials regarding prisoners who were recently executed for alleged 'terrorist activities' in Iran. On Thursday, August 5, the Attorney General of Iran stated that 20 individuals had been executed on charges of 'terrorist activities' in three provinces of the country. This number of executions is at least double the initial reports, which indicated that between seven to ten individuals had been executed. The Attorney General mentioned that the executed individuals had been 'influenced by Takfiri propaganda.' Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed doubts about the fairness of the trials of these individuals in a statement. On August 15, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, described these executions as a 'great injustice.' Reports indicate that most of those executed were Kurdish and Sunni. Bahram Qasemi stated that 'the Islamic Republic of Iran has always adopted a firm policy in combating terrorism and terrorist groups supported by foreign countries in the region.' He did not name these 'foreign countries.' In another part of his remarks, Qasemi expressed regret over the statements made by 'Western officials' without regard to the crimes of the executed individuals. Previously, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had stated that 'vague and general accusations and the deprivation of these defendants of a fair trial' led to 'great injustice in these cases.' The spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry stated that the executed individuals were involved in 'armed operations,' 'terror and killing of innocent people and some scholars, including Sunni scholars, procuring multiple military weapons, and preparing bombs for detonation and bombings in various locations in some cities.' Iranian officials had previously spoken about the 'destruction' of 'terrorist' groups and the arrest of individuals who 'intended to carry out attacks' or 'explosions' in Iran in the months leading up to the announcement of the executions. In addition to the UN Human Rights Council, the executions have also faced criticism within Iran; Molavi Abdolhamid, the Sunni Friday prayer leader of Zahedan, is among the critics. He criticized the execution of these Sunni prisoners, describing the action as 'lacking foresight and tolerance' in light of the 'sensitive' regional conditions. The Iranian Human Rights Defenders Center, led by Shirin Ebadi, and the International Federation for Human Rights have also condemned these executions.