Iran's Judiciary Chief: Mortality Among Prisoners is Almost Universal in All Prisons

The head of the judiciary of the Islamic Republic criticized the U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights in Iran as "vulgar and incorrect claims" and "unjust insults," urging the Human Rights Headquarters of the judiciary and the Foreign Ministry to respond "line by line" to the allegations in the report. According to the state news agency IRNA, Sadegh Amoli Larijani emphasized on Tuesday, April 30, that every country has its "specific values and norms" and that the U.S. "has no right to impose its erroneous and humanistic standards on others." He dismissed the claims made in the report regarding prisoner deaths as "irrelevant remarks," stating that "the mortality of prisoners, especially the elderly and some individuals suffering from drug addiction, is a nearly possible issue in all prisons." The judiciary chief added, "Of course, proving that some deaths may be due to torture is another matter that is merely a claim and cannot be accepted without evidence." Larijani rejected the issuance of death sentences for murder, stating, "In the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, there is no death penalty for murder; rather, it is retribution, which is a type of right that the heirs of the victim have, and this right is not always exercised... Therefore, the death penalty for murder is a trivial statement." The U.S. State Department, in its annual report, named severe restrictions on civil liberties, limitations on the ability to conduct free elections peacefully and fairly, and the increasing use of the death penalty for juveniles or crimes that are not even recognized as "serious crimes" as the most significant human rights issues in Iran. While Larijani called the claim of prisoner deaths due to torture "irrelevant," numerous reports have emerged in recent years regarding the deaths of individuals in detention due to torture-related complications, including the death of Sattar Beheshti, a blogger and worker. Additionally, forensic reports indicated that the cause of death for "Mohammad Kamrani," "Amir Javadi Far," and "Mohsen Rouh-al-Amini," prisoners in the Kahrizak detention center in 2009, was due to blows to "soft tissues of the body" 72 hours before death and poor detention conditions. There have also been reports of the deaths of some prisoners, including Hoda Saber and Akbar Mohammadi, due to lack of medical care during hunger strikes. The judiciary chief further labeled the U.S. State Department's claims regarding the issuance of death sentences for "conspiracy against national security" and "insulting high-ranking officials" as "lies." He stated, "This report claims that enmity with God also leads to a death sentence, while their reference is to the jurisprudential and legal discussion of moharebeh, which has its own specific conditions." These statements come despite the fact that the Iranian judiciary has repeatedly issued death sentences for individuals who have commented on or written about Islam, some of which have been overturned by the Supreme Court. For instance, following the execution of Mohsen Amir Aslani, a political prisoner in Rajai Shahr prison on October 24, 2014, his family and some friends stated that he was executed for charges such as "providing a new interpretation of the Quran, insulting Prophet Joseph, and innovating in religion." According to the U.S. State Department's report, the laws of the Islamic Republic provide for the death penalty in cases such as "moharebeh," "corruption on earth," "actions against national security," or even charges like insulting Ayatollah Khamenei and Ayatollah Khomeini. Additionally, the charge of "moharebeh with God" is also used to issue death sentences for political prisoners. On Tuesday, Larijani also responded to the U.S. State Department's criticism of death sentences in Iran for drug traffickers, stating that "Western countries attack us instead of encouraging Iran in this fight." The U.S. State Department noted that estimates from the "Iran Human Rights Documentation Center" indicated that the number of executions in 2015 was 964, "sentences that, according to reports, many of them were issued without considering the basic principles of due process." Iranian officials claim that "90 percent" of the death penalty statistics in Iran relate to drug crimes, and some members of parliament have reported preparing plans to abolish the death penalty for unarmed traffickers. Meanwhile, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a statement on Thursday, April 26, urging Iran to refrain from executing these convicts until the parliament decides on laws regarding drug traffickers' punishment.