Rapport Iran 2013-Gb-210313.Indd 1 25/03/13 15:22 ANNUAL REPORT on the DEATH PENALTY in IRAN 2012
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ANNUAL REPORT ON THE DEATH PENALTY I N I R A N 2012 Ensemble contre la peine Iran Human Rights de mort www.abolition.fr www.iranhr.net Rapport iran 2013-gb-210313.indd 1 25/03/13 15:22 ANNUAL REPORT ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN 2012 The organizations Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Together against the death penalty (Ensemble contre la peine de mort - ECPM) collaborate since 2011 for the international release and dis- semination of the annual report on the death penalty in Iran. INTRODUCTION The fifth annual report of Iran Human Rights (IHR) on the death penalty in Iran is an assess- ment of how the death penalty was used in 2012. Due to harsh crackdowns on civil society, non-existing freedom of press and lack of transparency of the Iranian judicial system, the present report by no means covers all death penalty cases in Iran. The report is the result of efforts by human rights defenders, members and affiliates of IHR in Iran who, on some occa- sions, took serious risks to help provide a more accurate picture of the death penalty than the official channels do. The number of executions in 2012 in Iran is among the highest in more than 15 years. Besides the confirmed numbers, it is believed there is a large number of unannounced executions. ANNUAL 2012 REPORT AT A GLANCE • At least 580 people were executed in 2012 in Iran. • 294 cases (51%) were reported by official Iranian sources. • 286 cases included in the annual numbers were reported by unofficial sources. • Only 85 out of the estimated 325 secret executions carried out in Vakilabad Prison in 2012 are included in the present report. • At least 76% of executions included in this report were due to drug related charges. • 60 executions were carried out in public in 2012. 46% of all public executions were carried out in the province of Fars (southern Iran). • One third (20) of those executed in public were convicted of drug-related charges. • At least 27 Afghan citizens and one Pakistani citizen were executed in in 2012. • At least 9 women were executed in 2012. • IHR has received reports of secret or ‘un-announced’ executions in more than 15 different Iranian prisons. The Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran – 2012 is being published at a time when Ira- nian society heads toward an uncertain future. Socio-economic conditions worsen each day, and in June 2013 another round of Presidential elections will commence in Iran. Keeping in mind the 2009 post-election protests in Iran and the Arab Spring in 2010 and 2011, Iranian authorities are well aware that the outcome of new protests in June 2013 may be even worse than the protests in 2009. They are therefore doing the maximum to prevent new protests. Spreading fear through society is the Iranian authorities’ main oppressive strategy, and the death penalty is their most important instrument to do so. Since the protests in 2009, the number of executions, particularly public executions, has risen dramatically. Public executions in 2012 were more than six times higher than numbers from 2009. The trend continues in 2013. Just in January and February 2013 alone, 20 people Ensemble contre la peine de mort 2 Rapport iran 2013-gb-210313.indd 2 25/03/13 15:22 ANNUAL REPORT ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN 2012 were hanged in public. Other demonstrations of horror were carried out in 2013, including the Taliban-style public hanging of a young man in a football (soccer) stadium in Sabzevar1, the public executions of two young men, who were convicted of mugging charges2, and the public amputation of a man’s fingers in Shiraz3. Secret executions in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad (northeastern Iran) have resumed. Since October 2012, IHR has received reports of weekly executions in Vakilabad Prison, where probably several hundred prisoners have been executed so far. IHR has included only a small portion of those executions in this report; only those that have been confirmed by at least two independent sources. IHR and ECPM characterize mass executions in Vakilabad Prison as a massacre and have urged the United Nations to send a fact-finding mission to Iran to investigate these executions4. There are also reports of unannounced executions in several other Iranian prisons, such as Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj. Death row prisoners in this prison live under the constant fear of execution5. Drug-related charges still account for the majority of executions in Iran, and most prisoners executed on drug-related charges are unidentified. These prisoners do not receive coverage from international media, campaigns do not exist to help save their lives, and their executions do not typically lead to international attention. However, in 2012, victims of the Iranian regime’s ‘war on drugs’-- which is supported by UNODC6--were finally given a face. Saeed Sedighi, a young man tortured to confess to drug trafficking, was sentenced to death after an unfair trial and executed in October 2012. His execution was postponed for one week due to an inter- national campaign initiated by several human rights organizations7 as IHR and ECPM, state- ments issued by UN Special Rapporteurs8, and reactions from the international community. Many death row prisoners in Iran are treated in a similar manner. They are subjected to torture, coerced confessions, unfair trials, and their cases do not receive appropriate attention. IHR and ECPM along with other human rights groups have urged the UNODC to halt all fund- ings to Iran as long as prisoners, convicted of drug-related charges, are facing the death pen- alty. IHR and ECPM are also concerned about death row prisoners from ethnic regions in Iran, especially the Arab, Baluchi, and Kurdish prisoners who remain at imminent danger of execu- tion. In 2012 four imprisoned Ahwazi Arab activists were executed and death sentences for five more (Mohammad Ali Amourinejad, Hashem Shabani, Hadi Rashedi, Mokhtar Alboshoka and Jaber Alboshoka) Ahwazi Arab activists, charged with “Moharebeh”, were upheld by the Iranian Supreme Court. Six Salafist Kurdish prisoners were executed in December 2012 in Tehran and more are awaiting on death row. Zanyar and Loghman Moradi, two Kurdish death row prisoners continue to be at imminent danger of execution. Less information is available regarding Baluchi death row prisoners, but according to IHR reports, many Baluchi prisoners have been executed in other Iranian prisons outside Baluchistan. As the June Presidential election nears, we fear an increase in the number of executions, par- ticularly in the ethnic regions of Iran. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the international spokes- person for IHR, says: “We urge the international community to pay more attention to Iran in the coming months as we expect an increase in the number of executions. There are also several prisoners of conscience who are at imminent danger of execution.” He continues: “We urge the United Nations to impose a ban on public executions, which besides being a dehuman- izing punishment, also brutalizes the general public; particularly children.” 1 http://iranhr.net/spip.php?article2680 2 http://iranhr.net/spip.php?article2686 3 http://iranhr.net/spip.php?article2695 4 http://iranhr.net/spip.php?article2707 5 http://iranhr.net/spip.php?article2709 6 http://www.ihra.net/contents/1215 7 http://justiceforiran.org/call-for-action/whereabouts/?lang=en 8 http://www.shaheedoniran.org/english/english/dr-shaheeds-work/press-releases/3080-iran-un-special-rapporteurs-call-for- the-immediate-halt-of-executions-including-eleven-scheduled-for-tomorrow.html Ensemble contre la peine de mort 3 Rapport iran 2013-gb-210313.indd 3 25/03/13 15:22 ANNUAL REPORT ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN 2012 SOURCES More than 50% of execution cases included in this report are based on information released by official Iranian sources. These sources include official websites of the Iranian Judiciary, the national Iranian broadcasting network, and official or state-run news agencies and newspa- pers. 49% of execution cases in this report are based on information released by other hu- man rights NGOs or IHR’s sources inside Iran9. These sources include eye-witnesses, family members, lawyers, and sources within the prisons and the Iranian Judiciary. IHR has only included unofficial sources which were confirmed by two independent sources-- these cases are called ‘unofficial’ or ‘unannounced’ executions. This report does not include people killed in prisons as a result of maltreatment or torture, like the blogger Sattar Beheshti10 Furthermore the report does not include people who work as porters (Kolbaran) and ‘Kasebkaran’, who are often killed by Iranian authorities’ security forces near the Western or Eastern borders of Iran. According to reports, at least 98 porters (Kolbar) have been killed by Iranian security forces between March 2011 and June 201211 in the Iranian province of Kurdistan alone. ANNUAL EXECUTIONS IN THE LAST 8 YEARS Sources: Amnesty International (2005-2007) and Iran Human Rights (2009-2012): 900 Confi rmed 800 130 240 Reported-Unconfi rmed 700 200 600 676 580 500 546 400 402 300 350 200 317 177 100 94 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 The diagram above shows the number of annual executions in Iran since 2005. The numbers are based on annual reports by Amnesty International (AI; 2005-2007) and Iran Human Rights (IHR; 2008-2012). The numbers in the green columns represent executions announced by official Iranian media and un-announced executions confirmed by human rights organizations. The numbers in the red columns represent reported secret executions (mainly in Vakilabad Prison) that have not been included in annual reports due to a lack of detailed information. The actual number of ex- ecutions in 2012 is higher than previous years and probably the highest since the early 1990’s.