A doctor, rap artists and a footballer are among
around two dozen Iranians who risk being hanged as Tehran uses capital
punishment as an intimidation tactic to quell protests, rights groups say.
اضافة اعلان
The executions in
the past week of Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, both 23 and the first
people put to death over the protests, sparked an outcry, especially as
Rahnavard was hanged from a crane in public rather than in prison.
But campaigners
warn that more executions will inevitably follow without tougher international
action, with a dozen more people already sentenced to death over the protests
and a similar number charged with crimes that could see them hanged.
“Unless the
political cost of the executions is increased significantly, we will be facing
mass executions,” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based
Iran Human Rights group.
He accused Iran’s
leaders of using executions to “spread fear among people and save the regime
from the nationwide protests”.
The largely peaceful protests sparked by the death
in September of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating
Iran’s strict dress code for women, are posing the biggest challenge to the
Islamic republic since the 1979 revolution.
There have been no
reports of a slackening in protest activity in recent days, including after the
executions, but the movement has been marked by phases of more and less intense
demonstrations.
Authorities
describe those facing death sentences as “rioters” who are being judged in full
accordance with the country’s sharia law.
But activists
express alarm over the use of vaguely worded sharia legal charges against
protesters, such as “enmity against God”, “corruption on earth” and “armed
rebellion”, all of which are capital crimes in Iran.
‘Unfair trial, torture’
Amnesty International currently confirms 11 cases of death sentences
issued against individuals over the protests, and another nine cases where
individuals have been charged with crimes that could see them given the death
penalty.
One young
protester, Sahand Nourmohammad-Zadeh, was sentenced to death over charges —
which he denied — that he did no more than tear down highway railings and set
fire to rubbish bins and tyres, AI said.
The group said it
was concerned another young man, Mahan Sadrat, 22, could be executed
“imminently” after being sentenced to death in a “grossly unfair trial” over
accusations of using a knife to attack an individual.
“spread fear among people and save the regime from the nationwide protests”
Mohammad Ghobadlou,
aged 22, was sentenced to death on charges of running over police officials
with a car, killing one and injuring several others, Amnesty said, adding it
had “serious concerns” he was subjected to torture and other abuse in jail.
Saman Seydi, a
young Kurdish rapper, was sentenced to death on charges of firing a pistol
three times into the air during protests, adding it had received information he
had also been subjected to torture to extract forced confessions.
Before his arrest,
Seydi had posted material on Instagram in support of the protests, while his
rap songs had also been critical of the authorities.
Hamid
Ghare-Hasanlou, a doctor, and his wife Farzaneh Ghare-Hasanlou were on their
way to the funeral of a killed protester when they were “caught up in the
chaos” of a fatal assault on a member of the Basij militia, AI said.
Hamid
Ghare-Hasanlou was sentenced to death and his wife to 25 years in prison, with
the court relying on incriminating statements from his wife which AI said were
coerced and later retracted by her in court.
Her husband was
tortured in custody and hospitalised with broken ribs, it said.
Those who face the
death penalty after being charged with capital crimes include Toomaj Salehi,
32, a prominent rapper who was charged “solely in connection with critical
music and social media posts”, AI said, adding that he had been tortured in
detention.
The professional
footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani, 26, is in a similar position after being charged
over the deaths of three security officials in November in the city of Isfahan,
it said.
The world union of
professional footballers FIFPRO said it was “shocked and sickened” by the
reports he faces death.
Executed ‘at any moment’
Campaigners are seeking to highlight all individuals facing the death
penalty in the hope that increased scrutiny on specific cases can help spare
lives.
But they warn the
executions are often sudden.
Rahnavard was hanged
just 23 days after his arrest and shortly after a last meeting with his mother,
who was given no inkling her son was about to be put to death.
Activists were also
unaware of Shekari’s case until his execution was announced by state media.
AI said Iranian
authorities are issuing, upholding and carrying out death sentences in a
“speedy manner” and there is a “serious risk” that people whose death sentences
have not been made public could be executed “at any moment”.
“The executions of
two people connected to the protests in Iran are appalling, and we are
extremely worried for the lives of others who have been similarly sentenced to
death,” the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights told AFP.
It added that Iran had “ignored” its pleas not to carry out
the executions.
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