Iran has executed at least 17 men since the nationwide protests that started in September last year, over the death of the young Kurdish woman Jîna Mahsa Amini in morality police custody.
Seven men were hanged for participating in the Amini protests, while another 10 faced execution over other political charges, including crimes in the Iranian penal code such as corruption on earth and waging war against god.
The Islamic republic has doled out death sentences for participation in peaceful protests and peaceful dissent, to which the international community must take a strong stance against, the Centre for Human Rights in Iran Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi said.
“The international community must be clear with Iranian authorities that continuing its killing spree will result in an extraordinary intensification of the Islamic Republic’s political and economic isolation,” Ghaemi said.
On top of the severity of the sentence, the court proceedings were also “characterised by severe violations of due process and fair trial rights”, the CHRI said.
Protesters were denied counsel, faced torture to extract confessions, and deprived of a chance to mount a defence in court. Juries were not involved in any convictions, the group said.
The youngest man executed in direct connection with the protests was 22 years old, while the oldest was 41.
Executions were more widespread for non-political crimes, with hundreds hanged over drug related offences. While not overtly political, a disproportionate number of convictions that led to an execution targeted Iran’s Baluchi minority, who made up 20 percent of the 423 known executions while constituting only 5 percent of the country’s population.
“The aim of these unlawful executions is to eradicate dissent and sow fear among the population,” Ghaemi said.
