The Iranian regime has at least earned one of the world’s least coveted awards-the government that has executed more prisoners per head of population than any other.
Executions of prisoners
The Iranian regime has consistently won this dubious award year after year. It was responsible for allowing 27 prisoners to be executed in January alone this year.
There were at least 280 civilians killed by prison officials last year, a figure that has become more or less an average year after year in addition to the number of innocent people killed while protesting.
November nationwide protests
At least 1,500 protesters were killed in November 2018 for example, although the very worst year was 1988 when more than 30,000 political prisoners were killed. Reuters confirmed in a special report on December 23, 2019, about the deadly crackdown on November nationwide protests in Iran the death toll of 1500 that was announced by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran) on December 15, 2019.
Behind the execution, figures are the number of those who are arrested, kept in sordid conditions in prison, and tortured. Many of these people were not properly charged. Torture and intimidation often led to people convicted falsely.
Human rights violations in Iran an international issue
The Iranian regime continues to be a human rights outlier because of its inhumane treatment of prisoners and the number of arbitrary executions.
Yet it appears that many influential international governments are turning a blind eye to what is going on in Iran as if the regime can continue to practice inhumane treatment of its own people as long as it doesn’t disturb the economic relationship that a foreign government has with Iran.
1988 Massacre
One of the worst human rights abuses that has ever taken place in modern times is the execution of 30,000 odd political prisoners in 1988. Most of these deaths were supporters or members of the main opposition organization, the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran).
Most of the executed prisoners were buried in mass graves, the exact locations of which have never been revealed.
Human rights experts from the United Nations last year compiled a letter addressed to the Iranian regime in which they requested that the regime imitated a proper investigation into the executions. The Iranian regime did not respond to the letter, resulting in the content of the letter being revealed to the public.
The fact that the letter had to be written so many years after the atrocity had happened served as an indictment of the international community who had turned a blind eye to what had happened.
The silence from international governments has meant that the regime has continued with its abuses because it thinks it can act with impunity. The human rights experts warned that “The failure of these bodies to act had a devastating impact on the survivors and families as well as on the general situation of human rights in Iran and emboldened Iran to… maintain a strategy of deflection and denial that continue to date.”
The MEK in particular has been a major target of the regime as it has recognized that the organization’s influence has grown in recent years, rather than declined, as propaganda from the regime would like everyone to know.
#Iran: Political Prisoner Zahra Safaei and Her Daughter Parasto Moeini Sentenced To 8 and 6 Years in Prison Respectively.
They were severely tortured and mistreated to make forced television confessions against the #MEK, but they refused. #HumanRights https://t.co/tYDuDw6RRD— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) February 9, 2021
The regime has strengthened its internal repression against anyone it thinks is remotely connected with the opposition, such as political prisoners like Zahra Safaie and her daughter Parastoo Moeini, as well as Majid Asadi and Mohammad Amirkhizi.
The regime also continues to think it can target its opponents outside of its national borders as has been witnessed recently by the trial of Assadollah Assadi and three accomplices who were arrested after their involvement in a failed bomb attack on a rally organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
The external acts of terrorism occur at the same time as the Iranian regime continues to perpetrate acts of abuse against its own citizens within Iran. This fact was highlighted in a statement by 50 members of the European Parliament on January 25th, who made note of the mass killings in Iran that occurred in November 2019 when 1,500 innocent peaceful protesters were deliberately slaughtered by forces of the regime.
The statement mentioned the fact that terrorist acts instigated by the regime were often planned and organized from within Iranian embassies and diplomatic missions. “The domestic policy of repression and [the export of] terrorism and fundamentalism abroad have been the foundation of Iran’s survival strategy for decades,” said the statement.
The fact that the January record of executions shows no relent from the regime indicates that the international authorities should be doing more to force the regime in Iran to improve its human rights situation at home and desist from terror tactics abroad.
and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube
