Tehran, Iran – In a horrifying human rights development, nearly three months after the killing of dozens of citizens during the January protests, the Iranian judiciary has begun a widespread and unprecedented wave of issuing and carrying out death sentences against detainees. Documented statistics from the Hengaw Human Rights Organization reveal a bloody toll: at least 3,500 citizens have lost their lives. In addition, prisons are overflowing with approximately 40,000 detainees arrested during those events.
Executions in the dark and fabricated charges
According to documentation by Hengaw, the Iranian judiciary has issued death sentences against at least 30 detainees who participated in the January protests. Thirteen of them have already been secretly executed in prisons in Qom, Karaj, Mashhad, and Isfahan.
Adding to the grim reality is the vague charge of “war crimes” and “corruption on earth” leveled against a large number of prisoners. These politically motivated charges are typically used to justify the elimination of dissidents.
The organization expressed grave concern over the “digital blackout” imposed by the regime. It asserted that the deliberate internet shutdown has hampered the documentation of violations, to the point that the identities of some protesters were only revealed after their secret executions. No prior information was available regarding their legal status or the conditions of their detention. Furthermore, this points to sham trials that fall far short of the most basic standards of justice.
Warnings of “enforced disappearances” and international pressure
For its part, the Human Rights Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran issued a strongly worded warning regarding the unknown fate of dozens of detainees living in a state of enforced disappearance.
The organization emphasized that these individuals are denied their right to effective legal representation. They also face the risk of death in unfair and sham trials, and the organization held the judicial system and security institutions fully responsible for any loss of life.
Human rights organizations have urgently appealed to the international community and the UN Human Rights Council to break the silence surrounding these systematic crimes. They consider the continued international silence to be a “green light” for the Iranian regime, encouraging it to continue its campaign of extrajudicial killings of unidentified detainees.
Calls for immediate intervention
The Iranian Prisons Oversight Authority called for intensified diplomatic pressure to send international investigation teams to the prisons. It also stressed the necessity of including the release of political prisoners, a halt to executions, and the lifting of internet censorship as top priorities in any international negotiations with Tehran. Indeed, the continuation of the current approach threatens to transform Iranian prisons into mass execution grounds, hidden from the world’s view.
