UN rights experts condemn recent upsurge in executions in
Iran, many of them unreported
GENEVA (8 May 2015) – The United Nations Special Rapporteurs
on the situation of human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, and on extrajudicial
executions, Christof Heyns, today condemned the sharp increase in executions in
recent weeks in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In many instances, executions
have gone unreported by official sources, and the names of prisoners have not
been published.
“When the Iranian government refuses to even acknowledge the
full extent of executions which have occurred, it shows a callous disregard for
both human dignity and international human rights law,” Mr. Shaheed stressed.
Between the 9 and 26 of April, as many as 98 prisoners are
reported to have been executed, an average of over six per day. The latest wave
brings the total number of executions since 1 January 2015 to more than 340,
including at least six political prisoners and seven women.
“We are alarmed by the recent surge in the number of
executions, which has occurred despite serious questions about fair trial standards,”
Mr. Heyns noted. “Many of the prisoners executed during this period were
charged with drug-related offences, which do not involve intentional killing
and hence do not meet the threshold of the ‘most serious crimes’.
The independent experts drew special attention to continued
reports of executions taking place in public, with 15 such executions known to
have occurred already in 2015. “Executions staged in public have a dehumanising
effect on both the victim and those who witness the execution, reinforcing the
already cruel, inhuman and degrading nature of the death penalty,” they said.
The Special Rapporteurs jointly urged the Iranian Government
to heed to the growing appeal by the UN human rights system to halt all
executions and to establish a moratorium on the death penalty, with a view to
abolishing the practice altogether.
ENDS
Ahmed Shaheed (the Maldives) is a Visiting Professor at
Essex University, UK; a former member of the Maldivian presidential Commission
Investigating Corruption; and a foreign policy advisor to the President of the
Maldives. Mr. Shaheed was Foreign Minister of the Maldives from 2005 to 2007
and from 2008 to 2010. He led the country’s efforts to sign and ratify all nine
international human rights Conventions and to implement them in law and
practice. He was appointed as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights in Iran in June 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council. Learn more, visit:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/AsiaRegion/Pages/IRIndex.aspx
The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns (South Africa), is a director of the
Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa and Professor of
Human Rights Law at the University of Pretoria, where he has also directed the
Centre for Human Rights, and has engaged in wide-reaching initiatives on human
rights in Africa. He has advised a number of international, regional and
national entities on human rights issues. Learn more, log on to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Executions/Pages/SRExecutionsIndex.aspx
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the
Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest
body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name
of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that
address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of
the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not
UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from
any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
UN Human Rights, Country Page – Iran:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/AsiaRegion/Pages/IRIndex.aspx
For more information and media requests please contact
Naveed Ahmed (+41 22 928 9477 / nahmed@ohchr.org) or write to sr-iran@ohchr.org
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