Simultaneously with the intensification of executions in Iran, Ali Saber Motlagh, a political prisoner from the 1980s, and Kamran Rezaei, one of the detainees of the 2019 protests, have been executed.
Mr. Saber Motlagh, who was 62 years old at the time of his execution, was arrested in the 1980s on charges of membership in the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the assassination of an official in September 1981. After some time, he was released due to lack of evidence.
This former political prisoner went abroad after his release and returned to Iran in 2020. Upon his return, he was arrested again on charges of committing the same assassination and this time, despite the lack of evidence, he was sentenced to death.
The execution of this former political prisoner took place despite his consistent denial of any involvement or knowledge of the assassination of the regime’s official.
Since the beginning of 2023, which is within the span of 11 months, over 700 people have been executed in Iran.
In a statement on November 28, the UN Human Rights Office, , condemned the execution of Milad Zohrehvand, the “eighth executed 2022 protester,” and the execution of Hamidreza Azari, a 17-year-old juvenile offender, and called on the Iranian regime to immediately halt the implementation of the death penalty.
Execution of Kamran Rezaei, one of the detainees of the 2019 protests in Shiraz
Simultaneously with the increase in the number of executions in Iran, the death sentence of political prisoner Kamran Rezaei, arrested during the November 2019 protests, was carried out on November 30 in Adelabad Central Prison in Shiraz.
Kamran Rezaei was arrested during the nationwide protests in 2019 and was sentenced to capital punishment for “intentional murder” of a Basij paramilitary member.
He spent seven months in solitary confinement and was tortured to force him to confess against himself.
This detained protester of the 2019 protests has always emphasized his innocence.
Two days before the execution of Kamran Rezaei, another prisoner named Hani Shahbazi was executed in Sepidar Prison in Ahvaz (southwest Iran).
On the same day, the regime’s Tasnim News Agency announced the execution without mentioning the name of this prisoner. His charges were stated as “Moharebeh” or “enmity against God” following the deliberate killing of a law enforcement officer and a Basij member in Shadegan on December 3, 2019.
In recent days, some unofficial sources reported that Mr. Shahbazi was injured by government forces during his arrest and has been in prison for the past four years.
The lack of international response to these executions gives the Iranian regime a green light for further executions.
This regime is attempting to suppress the explosive conditions of Iranian society and economic protests by ramping up executions.
