EU: Pace of Executions in Iran is Appalling

Iranian security personnel preparing ropes for the gallows. (IRNA Agency)
Iranian security personnel preparing ropes for the gallows. (IRNA Agency)
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EU: Pace of Executions in Iran is Appalling

Iranian security personnel preparing ropes for the gallows. (IRNA Agency)
Iranian security personnel preparing ropes for the gallows. (IRNA Agency)

The European Union (EU) on Friday described the current pace of executions in Iran as “appalling”, reiterating its firm and principled opposition to the use of capital punishment at all times and in all circumstances.
“There are credible reports that a minor, Hamidreza Azari, and a protester, Milad Zohrevand, were executed in Iran on November 24 and 23 respectively,” the Arab World Press quoted the EU statement.
“The current pace of executions in Iran, at least 600 since January, is appalling,” added the statement.
“The European Union reiterates its firm and principled opposition to the use of capital punishment at all times and in all circumstances. The death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent to crime and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity.”
Iranian authorities executed a Kurdish man jailed for almost 14 years in a case linked to a Muslim cleric's killing in 2008, rights groups said, decrying unjust proceedings, according to Iran International.
Ayoub Karimi, 33, was arrested in 2019 on the capital charge of "corruption on earth" in a case involving six other Kurdish men who also received the death penalty.
Amnesty International had issued warnings in recent days, highlighting the imminent danger of Karimi's execution and urging authorities to cancel the sentence.
Karimi was hanged along with six other men, who had received sentences in unrelated cases, in Ghezel Hesar prison in the Tehran suburb of Karaj, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group said.
Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “The execution of Ayoub Karimi, based on coerced confessions and without a fair trial, like the execution of other political prisoners, is a crime.”
The execution was confirmed by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency and France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network.
Amnesty International said in a statement at the time that the trial was "grossly unfair," pointing to forced confessions under torture.
The remaining five defendants are still incarcerated and face the imminent threat of execution, according to human rights watchdogs.
The rate of executions in Iran has been rising sharply, particularly in the wake of widespread protests that swept across the country last year following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody for an alleged head-scarf violation.
This month it has executed Milad Zohrevand, a man in his 20s in a case related to the protests, as well as 17-year-old youth Hamidreza Azari on murder charges as well as dozens of others.



Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced he intends to visit Tehran through a letter he addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iranian Mehr Agency reported that Grossi sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian president-elect, which stated: “I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your election win as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at the focal attention of the international circles for many years. I am confident that, together, we will be able to make decisive progress on this crucial matter.”

“To that effect, I wish to express my readiness to travel to Iran to meet with you at the earliest convenience,” Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Grossi as saying.

The meeting – should it take place - will be the first for Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to be open to the West to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.

Last week, American and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Washington sent a secret warning to Tehran last month regarding its fears of Iranian research and development activities that might be used to produce nuclear weapons.

In May, Grossi expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the talks he held over two days in Iran in an effort to resolve outstanding matters.

Since the death of the former Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, the IAEA chief refrained from raising the Iranian nuclear file, while European sources said that Tehran had asked to “freeze discussions” until the internal situation was arranged and a new president was elected.