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.



Rights Defenders Denounce US Sanctions on UN Expert on Palestinians

Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, gives a statement after meeting with the Slovenian parliament's Friendship Group with Palestine, in Ljubljana, on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Jure Makovec / AFP)
Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, gives a statement after meeting with the Slovenian parliament's Friendship Group with Palestine, in Ljubljana, on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Jure Makovec / AFP)
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Rights Defenders Denounce US Sanctions on UN Expert on Palestinians

Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, gives a statement after meeting with the Slovenian parliament's Friendship Group with Palestine, in Ljubljana, on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Jure Makovec / AFP)
Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, gives a statement after meeting with the Slovenian parliament's Friendship Group with Palestine, in Ljubljana, on July 10, 2025. (Photo by Jure Makovec / AFP)

Human rights defenders rallied on Thursday to support the top UN expert on Palestinian rights, after the United States imposed sanctions on her over what it said was unfair criticism of Israel.

Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese serves as special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, one of dozens of experts appointed by the 47-member UN Human Rights Council to report on specific global issues.

She has long criticized Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, and this month published a report accusing over 60 companies, including some US firms, of supporting Israeli settlements in the West Bank and military actions in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday Albanese would be added to the US sanctions list for work which had prompted what he described as illegitimate prosecutions of Israelis at the International Criminal Court.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged Washington to reverse course, Reuters reported.

"Even in the face of fierce disagreement, UN Member States should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures," he said.

The sanctions on Albanese set a dangerous precedent, said the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, adding that the special rapporteurs do not report to Guterres and he has no authority over them.

"The use of unilateral sanctions against special rapporteurs, or any other UN official or expert, is unacceptable," said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

Juerg Lauber, the Swiss permanent representative to the UN who now holds the rotating presidency of the Human Rights Council, said he regretted the sanctions, and called on states to "refrain from any acts of intimidation or reprisal" against the body's experts.

'OPENS THE GATES'

Mariana Katzarova, who serves as the special rapporteur for human rights in Russia, said her concern was that other countries would follow the US lead.

"This is totally unacceptable and opens the gates for any other government to do the same," she told Reuters. "It is an attack on UN system as a whole. Member states must stand up and denounce this."

Russia has rejected Katzarova's mandate and refused to let her enter the country, but it has so far stopped short of publicly adding her to a sanctions list.

Washington has already imposed sanctions against officials at the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister for suspected war crimes in Gaza. Another court, the International Court of Justice, is hearing a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide.

Israel denies that its forces have carried out war crimes or genocide against Palestinians in the war in Gaza, which was precipitated by an attack by Hamas-led fighters in October 2023.

"The United States is working to dismantle the norms and institutions on which survivors of grave abuses rely," said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

The group's former head, Kenneth Roth, called the US sanctions an attempt "to deter prosecution of Israeli war crimes and genocide in Gaza".

The United States, once one of the most active members of the Human Rights Council, has disengaged from it under President Donald Trump, alleging an anti-Israel bias.