Human Rights Groups Accuse Iran’s Regime of Using Capital Punishment to Spread Fear

Istanbul demonstrators condemning the practices of the Tehran regime (Reuters)
Istanbul demonstrators condemning the practices of the Tehran regime (Reuters)
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Human Rights Groups Accuse Iran’s Regime of Using Capital Punishment to Spread Fear

Istanbul demonstrators condemning the practices of the Tehran regime (Reuters)
Istanbul demonstrators condemning the practices of the Tehran regime (Reuters)

Iranian authorities are using capital punishment to intimidate and suppress protesters who have been demonstrating since mid-September, according to prominent human rights groups.

There are about 20 Iranians facing the threat of death row. Among them is a doctor, artist, and a soccer player.

The executions in the past week of Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, both 23 and the first people put to death over the protests, sparked an outcry, especially as Rahnavard was hanged from a crane in public rather than in prison.

But campaigners warn that more executions will inevitably follow without tougher international action, with a dozen more people already sentenced to death over the protests and a similar number charged with crimes that could see them hanged.

"Unless the political cost of the executions is increased significantly, we will be facing mass executions," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group.

He accused Iran’s leaders of using executions to “spread fear among people and save the regime from the nationwide protests.”

The largely peaceful protests sparked by the death in September of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating Iran's strict dress code for women, are posing the biggest challenge to the Iranian regime.

There have been no reports of a slackening in protest activity in recent days, including after the executions, but the movement has been marked by phases of more and less intense demonstrations.

Authorities describe those facing death sentences as “rioters” who are being judged in full accordance with the country's sharia law.

But activists express alarm over the use of vaguely worded sharia legal charges against protesters, such as “enmity against God,” “corruption on earth” and “armed rebellion,” all of which are capital crimes in Iran.

Amnesty International currently confirms 11 cases of death sentences issued against individuals over the protests, and another nine cases where individuals have been charged with crimes that could see them given the death penalty.



UK to Use Police Stations as Prisons under Emergency Measure

Police officers are seen in London, Britain, November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police officers are seen in London, Britain, November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
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UK to Use Police Stations as Prisons under Emergency Measure

Police officers are seen in London, Britain, November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police officers are seen in London, Britain, November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy

Police cells will temporarily be used to hold prisoners in a stop-gap measure to cope with overcrowding in jails, the British government said on Tuesday.

The emergency action, dubbed "Operation Safeguard", allows inmates to be held in police cells when prisons are full, and was previously used from February 2023 to October last year, Reuters said.

The prison population in England and Wales has doubled in the last 30 years, according to official data, leading to overcrowding as new places have failed to keep pace with demand. Justice systems in Scotland and Northern Ireland are run separately.

In a statement to parliament, Shabana Mahmood said the prison system was operating at more than 99% occupancy.

January saw the highest average monthly prison population growth in almost two years, as part of a rising trend in the last three months that "has only just begun to slow", she added.

"Given the recent increase in demand, it is necessary, and prudent, for me to temporarily reactivate Operation Safeguard to better manage the flow of offenders into the prison estate," Mahmood said.

According to the World Prison Brief database, imprisonment rates in England and Wales are higher than in other major European countries, with 141 detainees per 100,000 population, against 120 in France, 117 in Spain, 105 in Italy and 68 in Germany.