Saeed Masouri, one of Iran’s longest-serving political prisoners, has written a letter calling on member states of the United Nations to cut ties with the Iranian regime or condition their diplomatic relations on the cessation of executions.
In this letter, which Masouri states was written on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and addressed to Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, he highlights how Iranians have attempted to halt the regime’s execution machine through street protests, strikes, petitions, placards, and filing complaints with all possible institutions. He writes: “The government has placed the execution noose around the necks of all Iranians because it sees its survival in executing each and every citizen.”
Iranian Political Prisoner Saeed Masouri: We Are Not Afraid of the Sea of Blood
This political prisoner stresses that if the Iranian regime does not fear “international accountability,” it will “kick the stool out from under the people” to maintain its grip on power.
The letter specifically refers to the death sentences of two political prisoners, Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani.
Behrouz Ehsani Eslamloo, 69, and Mehdi Hassani, 48, were sentenced to death in mid-September 2024 by Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, presided over by Iman Afshari, on charges of “rebellion (baghi), waging war against God (moharebeh), and spreading corruption on earth (efsad fil-arz).”
They were also accused of “collecting classified information, assembly and collusion against national security, and membership” in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the largest opposition group to the regime.
At the same time, Mehdi Hassani’s daughter wrote on X that her father and Behrouz Ehsani had been transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison and were at imminent risk of execution.
In his letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Saeed Masouri questions how two political prisoners can simultaneously be charged with both “rebellion” (baghi) and “waging war against God” (moharebeh), while also being labeled as “corruptors on earth” (mofsed fil-arz).
He writes: “How is it possible that in a case where no murder has occurred, no victim exists, no plaintiff has filed a complaint, no blood has been spilled, and no avenger of blood is present, these two prisoners are still deemed deserving of execution?”
This political prisoner states that the Iranian regime’s goal in issuing death sentences is to “spread fear and terror” and to “carry out purges and continue killing people in the streets.”
Saeed Masouri is one of Iran’s longest-serving political prisoners and a member of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign. In 2002, he was sentenced to death by the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of “waging war against God” (moharebeh), but his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to whom Masouri addressed his letter, described the rise in executions in Iran as “deeply concerning” on January 7 and criticized the sharp increase in the use of this punishment over the past year.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recently stated, based on reports, that the Iranian regime executed at least 901 people in 2024. In 2023, the reported number of executions in Iran was at least 853. However, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition coalition, has claimed that the number of executions in 2024 exceeds 1,000.
