Letter from Six Iranian Lawyers to Guterres: Death Penalty Should Be 'Abolished or Limited'

On Tuesday, June 8, six Iranian lawyers sent a letter to Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, calling for the 'control or limitation' of the death penalty in Iran and other countries. Shirin Ebadi, Mehrangiz Kar, Ghasem Shole Saadi, Mohammad Oliaei-Fard, Hossein Raeisi, and Saeed Dehghan noted in the letter, a copy of which was also provided to the Persian section of Voice of America, that Iran ranks first in the world in per capita executions, stating: 'This trend has been increasing since September 16, 2022, coinciding with the start of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.' According to these six lawyers, more than half of the 582 Iranian citizens executed in 2022 were executed after the start of the 'Woman, Life, Freedom' protests, with a 75% increase in executions compared to 2021. They pointed out that many defendants have received death sentences, noting that according to a report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, the Islamic Republic has executed 209 people this year, averaging 10 Iranian citizens per week. In the continuation of their letter, the six lawyers referred to issues such as the 'abuse' of national sovereignty by governments like the Islamic Republic and the ineffectiveness of current international laws and regulations, suggesting that the Secretary-General encourage UN member states to abolish the death penalty. If abolition is not possible, they proposed limiting the issuance and execution of death sentences to 'serious crimes' following fair trials and court judgments, and that executions based on sham courts and political defendants should be classified as 'extrajudicial killings and crimes against humanity.' They also outlined enforcement guarantees for their proposals, including referring cases to the prosecutors of the International Criminal Court, establishing a fact-finding committee on executions, targeted sanctions against executioners, withholding leadership positions in UN bodies, and expelling or suspending membership from UN bodies as appropriate. Mohammad Oliaei-Fard, a lawyer and human rights activist and one of the authors of this letter, had previously provided explanations to Voice of America regarding another letter sent by a group of Iranian lawyers requesting a response to the executions of protesters. Despite widespread domestic and international opposition to the increase in executions in Iran, including the execution of political prisoners and protesters, this wave continues. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department previously stated to the Persian section of Voice of America regarding the Biden administration's reaction to the execution of three defendants in the 'Isfahan House' case: 'We condemn the execution of Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashimi, and Saeed Yaghoubi by the Iranian regime in the strongest possible terms and stand in solidarity with the families of these three individuals.' Mohammad Oliaei-Fard recently told the Persian section of Voice of America that the Islamic Republic uses executions as a 'political tool.' Some experts and analysts view the intensification of executions in Iran as a means to intimidate society.