Iran: A state that arbitrarily kills protesters in plain public view is a state that rules through terror.
Iranians of all walks of life have taken to the street to express their outrage following the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, violently arrested by the so-called “morality police” for failing to properly wear the mandatory veil (hejab). In response, forces of the Islamic Republic have fired live ammunition and killed peaceful protesters, displaying to the world’s astonishment their contempt for the most fundamental of human rights, the right to life, without which no other right can be enjoyed. The toll of this crackdown is staggering: Human Rights Activists in Iran are investigating more than 400 cases of presumed protester deaths with names and details.
“A state that arbitrarily kills protesters in plain public view is a state that fears the voices of its citizens and rules through terror. It is also a state that kills even more in secret: it is no surprise then that Iran’s execution rate, long one of the world’s highest, skyrocketed from 247 in 2020 to 317 in 2021, and at least 429 in 2022 through October 7.”
- Ned EL-ATTAR, executive director, SOHRI
The Swedish Observatory for Human Rights Information expresses its concern about the increase in the number of executions in a context of systemic due process violations as well as the mortal danger facing protesters who have been arrested since mid-September 2022.
The road to the death penalty is paved with torture, rightly notes the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty:
“The types of torture and other ill-treatment experienced during the long death penalty road are varied and numerous: physical or psychological torture has been applied in many cases during questioning to force confessions to capital crimes; death row phenomenon contributes to the long-term psychological decline of a person’s health; harsh death row living conditions contribute to physical deterioration; mental anguish of anticipating execution; methods of execution that cause exceptional pain, and the suffering experienced by family members and those with a close relationship with the executed person. Discriminations based on sex, gender, poverty, age, sexual orientation, religious and ethnic minority status and others can compound cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of individuals sentenced to death.”
