New wave of executions in Iran

A new wave of executions has been reported by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).  At least 10 people are said to have been hanged since the weekend.

On Wednesday, at least 6 prisoners on death row in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj, north-west of Tehran, were moved to solitary confinement to wait for their approaching execution.

The regime’s judiciary in Mazandaran Province confirmed that a prisoner was hanged in prison in Sari, northern Iran, on Sunday 24th April. He was identified by the initials Z. Ch. and was only 27 years old. They also confirmed that another prisoner, identified as H. H., also 27-years-old, was hanged on the same day.

Another man, unnamed, was hanged in Qazvin Central Prison, north-west of Tehran on Tuesday, according to the regime’s judiciary. In Zahedan Central Prison, south-east Iran, at least five prisoners were hanged on Saturday, and another three on Tuesday. Three of these include Jamshid Dehvari (aged 30), Sadeq Rigi (aged 35), and Mohammad Sanchouli (believed to have been 22 years old). Mr. Sanchouli is said to have been under 18 at the time of his arrest and has spent the past five years in prison, including on the ward for juveniles.

These hangings now bring the total to at least 46 since only 10th April this year. Of this number, three are said to have been women and one a juvenile.

The NCRI said on 13th April that the rise in the number of executions carried out is “aimed at intensifying the climate of terror to rein in expanding protests by various strata of the society, especially at a time of visits by high-ranking European officials, demonstrates that the claim of moderation is nothing but an illusion for this medieval regime”.

Speaking about the recent spate of executions, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Mohammad Mohaddessin, said that the rise indicated that recent visits to Iran by senior European officials has failed to improve the human rights situation. Rather, the regime has become emboldened because of the messages of silence and inaction.

He continued: “We say to European leaders, in particular to Mr. Renzi and Ms. Mogherini, that if you don’t want the Iranian people to consider you as accomplices to the suppression by the regime, raise your voices in protest to these executions and condition an improvement of ties with this regime to a halt in executions.”