ANNUAL REPORT ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN 2020 In 2020, the year of the extraordinary and overwhelming worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, most countries have been fighting to save lives. Meanwhile, Iran not only continued executing as usual, ANNUAL REPORT but used the death penalty more than ever to nip the freedom of speech and expression in the bud. The death penalty in 2020 has been used as a repressive tool against protesters, ethnic minority groups and any opponents or independent thinkers. Nevertheless, this report shows how exasperated the Iranian population is with the authorities’ ON THE DEATH PENALTY practices. Public opposition to the death penalty has increased drastically. Mass online campaigns of millions of Iranians expressing their opposition to the death penalty and the dramatic increase in the number of people choosing diya (blood money) or forgiveness over execution, are all examples of this opposition. With this report, we demand transparency and accountability and IN IRAN 2020 call on the international community to support the abolitionist movement in Iran. 2020 ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN ANNUAL REPORT © IHR, ECPM, 2021 ISBN : 978-2-491354-18-3 Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam Director Iran Human Rights (IHR) and ECPM Iran Human Rights Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan have been working together since P.O.Box 2691 Solli Executive director 2011 for the international release and circulation of the annual report 0204 Oslo - Norway Email: [email protected] on the death penalty in Iran. IHR Tel: +47 91742177 62bis avenue Parmentier and ECPM see the death penalty as Email: [email protected] 75011 PARIS a benchmark for the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran. www.iranhr.net www.ecpm.org ANNUAL REPORT ON THE DEATH Cover photo: People gathering and putting flowers at the grave of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari who was executed in September 2020 in Shiraz. Back cover photo: Grave of Navid Afkari destroyed in December 2020, after the authorities had arrested Navid’s father and brother for a few hours at his PENALTY gravesite.1 IN IRAN This report has been prepared by Iran Human Rights (IHR) with the support of ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty). Since 2012, IHR2 and ECPM3 have been working together for the publication, 2020 international release and circulation of the annual reports on the death penalty in Iran. Editor: L. Tarighi Sub-editor: Caroline Izoret-About Lay-out: Olivier Dechaud (ECPM) Printing: Imprim’ad hoc © IHR, ECPM, 2021 ISBN : 978-2-491354-18-3 1 https://iranintl.com/en/iran/grave-executed-iranian-wrestler-afkari-desecrated 2 http://iranhr.net/en/ 3 http://www.ecpm.org/en/ ANNUAL REPORT 2 ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN 3 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS 76 The COVID-19 prison riots and extrajudicial killings 78 Execution categories 78 Juveniles 83 Women 85 Ethnic minorities 7 Foreword by Narges Mohammadi 86 Foreign citizens 9 Preface 89 Ways to restrict the use of the death penalty in Iran 11 2020 ANNUAL REPORT at a glance 91 Categories of the death penalty with the possibility of improvement 12 Introduction 94 Iranians’ opinion on the death penalty: 2020 survey 16 Sources 96 Movements promoting abolition and mobilising the civil society inside Iran 17 Facts and Figures 98 Repression of the abolitionist MOVEMENT 22 Legislative Framework 22 International treaties ratified by Iran 103 Recommendations 24 Death penalty according to Iranian law 105 ANNEXES 31 Procedures 105 ANNEX 1: Executions per capita in each province 31 From arrest to proof of guilt 106 ANNEX 2: List of resolutions and reports adopted 38 Procedures of the death penalty by the United Nations and European Parliament mentioning the death penalty in Iran 40 Executions in Practice 108 ANNEX 3: Analysis of the UPR recommendations 40 Charges on the death penalty in the last three cycles 41 Executions related to protests 109 ANNEX 4: Survey: Iranian’s attitude towards 46 Executions for moharebeh, efsad-fil-arz and baghy in 2020 the death penalty - 2020 54 Execution for alcohol consumption 55 Executions for rape and sexual assault in 2020 118 Iran Human Rights (IHR) 56 Executions for drug-related charges in 2020 61 Executions for murder charges: Qisas 120 ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty) 67 Share of the revolutionary and criminal courts in executions of 2020 68 Public executions 70 Geographic distribution of executions 73 Secret and unannounced executions ANNUAL REPORT 4 ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN 5 2020 GLOSSARY FOREWORD BY Baghy Armed rebellion against the Islamic ruler Diya Blood money NARGES MOHAMMADI Efsad-fil-arz Corruption on Earth PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER AND ANTI-DEATH PENALTY ACTIVIST Elme-qazi Knowledge of the judge Estizan Authorisation required by the Head of Judiciary for qisas executions One of the most serious causes Figh Islamic jurisprudence I have fought for in my life has Hadd (pl. hudud) Fixed punishment for offences mandated been the abolition of the death by Sharia penalty in Iran. It is unaccept- Lavat Sodomy able to end a life, no matter Moharebeh Waging war against God what the justification may be. Qadf False accusations of sodomy/fornication I am not opposed to punishing Qassameh Sworn oath criminals; criminals will continue Qisas Retribution-in-kind to be punished until the roots Sharia Islamic rule causes of their crimes are Ta’zir Punishment for offences at the discretion eradicated, but crimes persist of the judge and this is neither a desirable, nor an acceptable outcome for society. It is difficult for me to see the children left behind after the execution of their mother and/or father. Not only do those children lose their parents, but they cannot even talk about them due to societal shame. They lose everything, and it remains to be seen what horrific fate awaits them. The death penalty is violence. As violent as war on a smaller scale. In war, people are killed; people are also killed by the death penalty. In human battles, the violence of the death penalty is worse than the killings on the frontlines. I am sorry to say that Iran is one of the few countries where men and women are executed on multiple and sometimes false, and in my opinion unacceptable, charges. When I was imprisoned in Zanjan prison, I was with a woman who has been waiting for her stoning sentence for eight years. But because Iran is not carrying out stoning punishments due to international pressure, they have changed her sentence to execution by hanging. A woman has to lose her life because of her relationship with a man. Do you know what the root cause of this crime was? This woman, like all Iranian women, has been deprived of the right to divorce. Is this woman guilty? In my opinion, the system that brought her here by depriving her of this right is the guilty party. So this woman has been ANNUAL REPORT 6 ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN 7 2020 victimised once by not having the right to divorce and victimised again in practice, when she was punished for being unable to divorce. PREFACE She has lost her youth awaiting the gallows. While I was in Zanjan Prison, a woman I had lived with, who I saw was so full of life and desire to live, was executed by hanging. I cannot The 13th annual report on the death penalty by Iran Human Rights fathom how the people around her could ignore her intense desire to (IHR) and ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty) provides an live and her pleas not to die, and why they ended her life? assessment and analysis of the death penalty trends in 2020 in the Unfortunately, the laws in Iran have left the door open for the Islamic Republic of Iran. It sets out the number of executions in 2020, implementation of unjust executions, including political ones. the trend compared to previous years, the legislative framework Political executions began not long after the 1979 revolution and have and procedures, charges, geographic distribution and a monthly continued throughout the years, but have unfortunately intensified breakdown of executions. Lists of the female and juvenile offenders during the nationwide protests of 2009, 2017, 2018 and 2019. executed in 2020 are also included in the tables. I also want to speak of the recent surge in executions in Sistan and The report also looks into the abolitionist movement within Iran, Baluchistan, and of the executions of Kurdish activists in Kurdistan including the forgiveness movement and its contribution to limit the before that. use of the death penalty, the mass online “#don’t execute” campaign The executions of people like Navid Afkari and Ruhollah Zam in the started organically during the COVID-19 pandemic to save the lives past year have been the most ambiguous executions in Iran. The of protesters on death row, and the authorities’ attempt to promote death sentence of Ahmadreza Djalali is one of the most erroneous the death penalty and crackdown on human rights defenders and sentences, and the reasons for the issuance of these death civil society. sentences must be carefully examined. These people have been The 2020 report is the result of hard work from IHR members and sentenced to death after being held in solitary confinement and supporters who took part in the reporting, documenting, collecting, subjected to horrific psychological and mental torture. That is why I analysing and writing of its content. We are especially grateful to do not consider the judicial process to be fair or just; and neither is IHR sources inside Iran who, by reporting on unannounced and secret keeping defendants in solitary confinement, forcing them to make executions in prisons of 26 different provinces, incur a significant untrue and false confessions that are used as key evidence in issuing risk.