On August 8, the human rights center No to Prison – No to Execution reported that authorities in Iran have hanged at least seven inmates in the prisons of Birjand, northeastern the country, and Isfahan, central of the country. They were charged with drug-related offenses.
Furthermore, the Resanak human rights website identified the executed inmates as Zabihollah Hormozi and Majid Galeh-Bacheh in Birjand prison; and A’zam Mohammad Hassani (Kiazehi) and Esmail Kordtamini in Isfahan prison. These victims were all from the Baluch minority.
Human rights activists reported at least five inmates were hanged in Isfahan prison; however, they had yet to identify all the executed prisoners. Later, the No to Prison – No to Execution center identified another victim as Ahmad Hemmat-Abadi, 42, who was also executed for drug-related charges.
These executed were carried on the third day of Ebrahim Raisi’s presidency in Iran. Raisi is infamously known as the “butcher of Tehran” for his leading role in the execution of thousands of political prisoners, mostly affiliated with the opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI) in the summer of 1988.
Following his first attempt for office in May 2017, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed Raisi as Judiciary Chief in March 2019. In his period as the Judiciary Chief, Raisi upheld and ordered the implementation of more than 1,000 death sentences.
Raisi also played a leading role in the crackdown on peaceful protesters in November 2019, who came onto the streets to denounce gas price hikes. As the highest judicial authority, Raisi was involved in the suppression of fuel carriers’ protests in cross-boarding the Saravan region in February.
Following his ‘designed victory’ in the June Presidential race, Khamenei replaced Raisi with his first deputy Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i. Eje’i is also a notorious judicial authority, and his name is synonymous with execution and torture.
On the other hand, human rights activists acknowledged that authorities hanged two other Baluch inmates Nabi Nouti-Zahi and Ebrahim Ghanbar-Zehi in the prison of Kerman, southeastern of the country, at down on Monday, August 9. They were from Zahedan city, the capital of Sistan & Baluchistan province.
A day earlier, the victims had been taken to solidary confinement as a procedure of implementing the death sentence. They had allegedly been detained for drug-related charges five years ago while they did not have any kind of narcotics.
Furthermore, the authorities hanged the tenth inmate within a ten-day period in the prison of Kermanshah. He was identified as Afshar Minaee from the city of Paveh. He had been kept five years behind the bars and finally was executed Dizel-Abad Prison for a murder charge. He was the father of two minor girls and boys. State-run media has yet to report this execution as of this report.
According to reports tallied by human rights centers and activists, Iranian authorities have executed at least 204 inmates in 2021. This is while they implement more than 72 percent of executions in secret, according to Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
Arbitrary Murders
Also, on Sunday, August 8, border guards in cross-boarding Baneh district, Kurdistan province, deliberately targeted a porter [Koulbar] and gunned down him. He was identified as Omid Khezri, 47, and the son of Omar. He was from Mahabad city and resided in the Sardasht district. He was married and the father of two children.
On the same day, a man drove over two women on the ambiguous accusation of ‘Bad-Hijab’ [refusing to obey restricted hijab rules] in Urmia city, the capital of the northwestern province of West Azarbaijan. He committed this crime under the excuse of ‘Inciting people to goodness.’ One of the injured women has reportedly lost her life in a hospital, and another one is in critical condition.
As observers had previously noticed that the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi led the Iranian government to more human rights violations. In such circumstances, the international community should take a firm and powerful approach toward the religious tyranny in Iran, and condition any relations to an improvement of the human rights situation.
