?What is behind the new wave of executions in Iran
On Wednesday, Iran executed 7 convicts, including those accused of rape and drugs , bringing to 10 the number of those executed by hanging, according to rights groups that sounded the alarm, after the wave of executions in Iran.
And the "Monitor" website quoted a report by the Human Rights Organization in Iran that 4 were executed by hanging for rape in Kohardasht prison in the city of Karaj, 36 kilometers west of Tehran.
The organization said from Oslo that in most rape cases confessions are extracted by torture, and the defendants do not have access to a lawyer. The Iranian authorities have not confirmed the executions for rape.
King of cocaine
In another case, 3 were executed in Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj because of drugs . Mizan, the Iranian judiciary, confirmed the executions, saying that the convicts were members of the Panjak organization, a major cocaine distributor. The site stated that Hussein Bangak, one of the executed, is known as the "Sultan of Cocaine".
In 2014, Iran arrested Panjak, who was 32 years old, and 5 members of the organization for their involvement in smuggling.
The rights groups said that two other men executed were Abdolhossein Emami Moqaddam, the father of a resident of the city of Kudhost in Lorestan Province, and Babam Aghaei, the father of two from Tehran.
In a video clip posted by the Human Rights Organization in Iran on its Twitter account, it said that the prisoners' families met outside Ghezel Hesar prison to appeal to the authorities to stop the execution. Gunfire can be heard in the video, after the security forces fired tear gas shells at the crowd and beat them with sticks.
The Human Rights Organization quoted an informed source in Iran as saying, "One of the families was taken to the hospital in critical condition after being beaten."
Iran and the wave of executions
A joint report between the Human Rights Organization in Iran and the "Together Against the Death Penalty" organization in Paris said that 582 convicts were executed in 2022, compared to 333 in 2022. The United Nations said that more than 200 convicts were executed this year.
"More than 10 defendants are executed every week in Iran , making it one of the world's highest executioners," said UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Tuesday.
after china
Iran is the second country to carry out executions after China, according to Amnesty International. Most of those executed were from minorities and were accused of murder or drug offences, while others were convicted of vague charges such as "spreading corruption on earth" and "enmity against God", according to an Amnesty International report in March.
"The world should pressure the Iranian authorities to ban executions, quash unfair accusations and death sentences, and drop all charges of peaceful participation in demonstrations," said Diana Eltahawy, deputy regional director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa office.
The rise in death sentences coincided with a protest movement in the country against the regime last September in response to the death of the young woman, Mahsa Amini , while she was in police custody.
The protests were met with violent attacks, and security forces killed hundreds of demonstrators and arrested thousands more. More than 100 were sentenced to death in connection with the protests, according to a report by the Organization for Human Rights in Iran in December.
The joint report of the Iranian Human Rights Organization and Together Against the Death Sentence said , "The Iranian authorities have made clear the importance of the death penalty in entrenching social fear to maintain power."
In a report released last week, Ghada Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, said that "Iran continues to sacrifice human lives to instill fear in people's hearts and crush dissent ."
Wednesday's executions came a few days after authorities hanged two people for blasphemy on Monday. And after the execution of an Iranian Swede over the weekend for his participation in the attack on a military parade in 2018 in southwestern Ahvas, in which 25 people were killed.
Source : websites