Regime Returns to Execution Policy

Official sources announced that eight people have been hanged in prisons in Western Azarbaijan. Some analysts point to the increasing number of executions as a sign of the regime’s return to the execution policy.

Khosrow Kordpour, a journalist in Mahabad, tells Rooz that some of the executions took place in conformity with procedural rules, but others were carried out without notifying the lawyers or families of the hanged individuals.

Providing details about the executions, journalist Khosrow Kordpour tells Rooz: “We were told by reliable sources about the recent executions in Urumiya and Miandoab. The Miandoab executions were even confirmed by official sources. The executed individuals were Kurdish residences from the providence of Western Azarbaijan. We can’t make a final determination about their charges, but as the judiciary’s officials have claimed in the Miandoab cases, the charges were largely related to drug trafficking.”

Kordpour adds, “This is not the first time that we are told about mass executions. In recent months we have revealed other cases of execution in Azarbaijan, especially at the Urumiya prison. These executions take place in conformity with procedural rules, and we expect to see more execution verdicts related to drug trafficking to be actually implemented in Western Azarbaijan’s prisons in the coming months.”

He says, “In some specific cases the lawyers informed us that they had no information about the time and manner of the execution, although in other cases the lawyers were present at the scene.”

It was previously reported that 9 individuals were hanged in Khuzistan on charges such as “murdering police officers” and “committing crimes against public morality.”

The website Ahwaznews has released the names of 8 of the individuals, but the Islamic republic’s judicial officials have not yet confirmed the news.

According to Amnesty International, Iran had the second highest number of executions in the world in 2010, after China.

This international human rights organization has announce that, with 252 annual executions, Iran ranks second after China, with 5,000 annual executions.

Some of the mass executions in Iran in 2010, such as those that took place at Mashhad’s Vakilabad prison, were not included in the Amnesty International report.

Previously, the Iran Human Rights Organization had reported execution figures for 2010, according to which the Iranian government executed at least 546 individuals in 2010. The organization noted that it had not included another 200 cases in its report for lack of detailed information.

According to the Islamic Republic’s official sources, 85 individuals were hanged across the country in January 2011 alone.

Some political analysts and human rights activists have noted that the new wave of executions, which began in 2011, are similar to the widespread executions carried out in the 1980s.