UN Calls Execution of 20 Prisoners in Iran a 'Great Injustice'

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, described the execution of twenty prisoners in Iran, most of whom were Sunni Kurds, as a 'great injustice' in a statement. According to Reuters, the UN High Commissioner also expressed doubts about these individuals' access to a fair trial. The Iranian judiciary announced on Tuesday, August 2, that it had carried out the death sentences of several prisoners on terrorism charges. However, the Attorney General of Iran announced on Friday that the number of individuals executed on charges of 'terrorist activities' in three provinces was 20. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein stated that most of those executed on terrorism charges were from the Sunni Kurdish minority. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights emphasized that vague and general accusations, along with the deprivation of these defendants' rights to a fair trial, led to a great injustice in these cases. In his statement, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein also referred to the case of Shahram Ahmadi, one of those executed, stating that he was forced under pressure and coercion to sign an interrogation document containing false confessions. Several human rights organizations condemned the execution of these Sunni prisoners. The Human Rights Defenders Center and the International Federation for Human Rights issued separate statements condemning the executions. The Human Rights Defenders Center of Iran, led by Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, described the 'mass executions' of several Sunni prisoners on 'vague and unspecified charges' and accompanied by 'torture' and 'deprivation of fair trial rights' during their imprisonment as a 'wake-up call for the legal community in Iran' following the 'executions in the 1980s.' The statement noted that it was believed that after passing through the 1980s, 'the era of mass executions of political and ideological prisoners had ended, but this tragedy is again a wake-up call for the legal community in Iran, emphasizing the lack of independence of the judiciary.' According to the Human Rights Defenders Center, the executed individuals 'were deprived of a fair trial and spent a long time in solitary confinement and under torture.' This center also announced that the sentences against lawyers and defendants 'were not officially communicated,' and 'therefore it is unclear whether all legal procedures were followed for them.' In another section of the UN High Commissioner's statement, he referred to the execution of 19-year-old Hassan Afshar, who was 17 at the time of committing the crime. Hassan Afshar was executed on July 19 for 'sodomy by force' with another teenage boy in Arak prison. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein stated that executing a juvenile offender is a heinous act, and he urged Iran to respect the strict prohibition of executing juveniles under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty International also severely criticized the execution of Hassan Afshar and the continued execution of offenders in their youth, stating that the 'repulsive eagerness' of Iranian judicial officials for this act shows their continued disregard for international laws. Amnesty International reports that at least 160 individuals who were sentenced to death as minors are being held in prisons across Iran. Iran has the second-highest number of executions in the world after China.