Public Execution; People of Shahroud Started Their Day Watching the Gallows

On the morning of September 5, the Semnan Province judiciary executed the death sentence of an individual convicted of murdering a lawyer in Shahroud in public. According to ISNA news agency, quoting Mohammad Sadegh Akbari, the Chief Justice of Semnan Province, the executed individual was sentenced to 'public retribution' for the 'premeditated murder' of Mahmoud Reza Jafar Aghaei, a lawyer, and this sentence was carried out early on Tuesday. Akbari also claimed that efforts had been made for 'peace and reconciliation' in this case, but the victim's family was determined to carry out the retribution. In September 2023, ISNA reported that the last 'suspect in the murder' of the Shahroudi lawyer was identified and arrested in a neighboring province, and he confessed to the murder of Mahmoud Reza Jafar Aghaei. Meanwhile, human rights organizations have repeatedly questioned the judicial process in the Islamic Republic's judiciary, stating that in many cases, especially those leading to death sentences, confessions are obtained under duress and torture. On August 8, 2022, Mahmoud Reza Jafar Aghaei was shot dead in front of his wife and five-year-old child in Shahroud. According to police reports, four individuals involved in the murder were arrested in March 2023, and the main suspect was also arrested in September 2023. In November 2023, a summons for trial was issued for eight defendants in the case, and the maximum penalty was requested for the murderer and accomplices. Rasoul Kouhpayehzadeh, the lawyer representing the victim's family, stated in January 2024 that the second branch of the Semnan Province Criminal Court had issued the public execution sentence. Kouhpayehzadeh emphasized that the individual who paid to hire a criminal gang to kill Jafar Aghaei was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 25 years in prison according to laws and regulations. Reports indicate that the instigator of the murder was the father of Jafar Aghaei's former client, who committed the murder to 'prevent the exposure of extensive aspects of a financial corruption, money laundering, and economic disruption case.' It is worth mentioning that in the process of public execution, the general public may voluntarily participate, including young children. Public executions are a topic that has always been criticized by human rights organizations and the United Nations, which have consistently called on the Iranian government to change and stop this approach both in laws and in practice. Psychologists believe that public executions can lead to increased aggression in society and normalize the death penalty. Analysts believe that this action strengthens a spirit of revenge, cruelty, and a tendency towards crime. In recent years, the Islamic Republic has attempted to use the issuance and execution of death sentences as a deterrent tool to suppress social protests and create fear to prevent any form of dissent. The head of the Bar Association reported the registration of 'about 20 murders and 60 serious assassination attempts' against lawyers in the last decade. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern over executions in Iran. Amnesty International condemned the 'secretive and shocking' execution of Reza Rasai by the Islamic Republic. Taher Naqvi, a lawyer and political prisoner, was transferred to the hospital on the seventh day of his hunger strike.