Six Political Prisoners Demand an End to Executions

Six political prisoners in Iran have condemned the recent executions in a statement, calling for an immediate halt to capital punishment in the Islamic Republic's prisons. The signatories of this statement consider the "Women, Life, Freedom" revolutionary movement as a manifestation of the people's will to end the "tyranny of religious rule" and emphasize that the Islamic Republic will not succeed through "suppressing the people and instilling fear through killings" and is "doomed to perish." Nasrin Javad, Bahareh Heydari, Golrokh Iraei, Narges Mohammadi, Zohreh Sarv, and Sepideh Qolian have urged international organizations and global media to broadly support the people and pressure the Islamic Republic to prevent the continuation of governmental violence. This statement comes as Iranian official news agencies reported that judicial authorities executed two prisoners who managed several Telegram channels for the "crimes" of "insulting the Prophet" and "apostasy." Youssef Mehrdad and Sadrollah Fazeli-Zare are the two executed individuals, with Mehrdad being a father of three young children and Fazeli-Zare being the caretaker of his elderly mother. These executions occur amid a recent acceleration in the implementation of death sentences in Iran, raising concerns. On Saturday, May 16, the Iranian Judiciary's media center announced the execution of Habib Farajollah Chab, known as "Habib Asiyoud." Reports indicate that at least 50 people have been executed in Iran over the past ten days for various charges. The news agency "HRANA," which is affiliated with human rights activists in Iran, reported that these executions included two women in prisons across various cities. According to HRANA, drug-related crimes and murder account for the majority of executions. Additionally, the Iran Human Rights Organization reported that "six Arab political prisoners from Ahvaz, sentenced to death on security charges, were transferred to solitary confinement in Shiban Prison for execution." In Tehran, three political prisoners have also been moved to the fourth ward of Greater Tehran Prison, where violent crime offenders are held, increasing concerns about their imminent execution. The lack of fair trial standards according to international norms is one of the main criticisms from civil society, legal experts, and UN monitoring bodies regarding judicial processes, especially concerning political and ideological cases in the Islamic Republic.