Iran executions amount to ‘state sanctioned killing’

Iran is weaponising the death penalty to frighten the public and crush dissent, and its execution of protesters without due process amounts to state-sanctioned killing, the UN said yesterday.

Tehran has executed four people in connection with nearly four months of demonstrations in the country, with two more executions scheduled imminently and at least 17 other individuals reportedly sentenced to death, the United Nations Human Rights Office in Geneva said.

“Criminal proceedings and the death penalty are being weaponised by the Iranian government to punish individuals participating in protests and to strike fear into the population so as to stamp out dissent, in violation of international human rights law,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said.

The Islamic republic has been rocked by a wave of protests since the death in custody on September 16 of Kurdish Iranian Amini, 22, following her arrest for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women.

“The weaponisation of criminal procedures to punish people for exercising their basic rights — such as those participating in or organising demonstrations — amounts to state-sanctioned killing,” Turk said.

“The government of Iran would better serve its interests and those of its people by listening to their grievances, and by undertaking the legal and policy reforms necessary to ensure respect for diversity of opinion… and the full respect and protection of the rights of women in all areas of life.”

Meanwhile, Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of late president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has been sentenced to five years in prison, her lawyer told AFP on Monday.

Women’s rights activist Hashemi was arrested on September 27 accused of “propaganda” and actions against public order and national security, said lawyer Neda Shams.