Statement by 'Human Rights Defenders' in Protest Against the Execution of Sunni Prisoners

The Iranian Association for Human Rights has described the 'mass executions' of several Sunni prisoners with 'vague and unspecified charges' and accompanied by 'torture' and 'denial of fair trial' during their imprisonment as a 'wake-up call for the legal community in Iran' following the 'executions in the 1980s'. This association, led by Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate, stated in a notice on its website on Thursday, August 5, that it was believed that after the 1980s, 'the era of mass executions of political and ideological prisoners had ended, but this tragedy serves as a wake-up call again for the legal community in Iran, emphasizing the lack of independence of the judiciary'. According to the Iranian Association for Human Rights, the executed individuals were 'deprived of a fair trial and had long been held in solitary confinement and under torture'. The association also announced that the sentencing to lawyers and defendants 'had not been officially communicated' and 'as a result, it is unclear whether all legal procedures were followed for them'. This Iranian human rights organization emphasized that 'mass executions based on vague and unspecified charges not only do not indicate justice but also reflect an intention to instill fear and terror in society'. According to Iranian judiciary officials, on Tuesday, August 2, 20 members of the 'Tawhid and Jihad' group were executed in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj. In recent days, the judiciary of Kurdistan province and the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic have attributed multiple charges to the executed individuals. These charges include 'the armed assassination of Mawlawi Barhan Ali, a Sunni cleric, and Mawlawi Sheikh al-Islam', 'armed confrontation in the Sharifabad neighborhood with Ministry of Intelligence personnel', 'armed robbery and extortion', and the murder of 'four environmentalists in Kurdistan province'. Most of these individuals have denied these charges and have stated in videos and writings released from them that they had long been in 'solitary confinement' and 'under torture'. Some of them have also claimed that they were only engaged in religious and spiritual activities. Nevertheless, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Attorney General of Iran, accused the executed individuals of being 'influenced by Takfiri propaganda', which he claimed was pursued both inside and outside the country. Meanwhile, the Iranian Association for Human Rights warned that 'this illegal conduct of the judiciary' in the current conditions of the Middle East 'could harm national security and exacerbate religious conflicts that have always been exploited by politicians'. This human rights organization condemned the execution of these individuals and expressed condolences to the families of the deceased, urging Iranian officials to pay attention to their international commitments regarding the implementation of human rights standards. Several human rights organizations have also condemned the execution of these Sunni prisoners. For instance, the International Federation for Human Rights condemned the execution of these prisoners 'in the strongest terms' on Wednesday, August 3. In this context, the Iranian judiciary executed at least seven people on charges of engaging in terrorist activities. The Ministry of Intelligence reported that 102 members of the 'Tawhid and Jihad' group were being prosecuted. 'The families of the executed in 1988 were also victims'. The International Federation for Human Rights protested against the recent executions in Iran. The Attorney General of Iran announced the number of executed individuals from the 'Tawhid and Jihad' group as 20.