2011 executions in Iran

The United Nations, Amnesty International, Iranian opposition leaders and others criticized the Islamic Republic of Iran for its high rate of executions in 2011. According to Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, Iran executed a total of 670 people in 2011.

Overview

By January 16, 2011, the Iranian government had reportedly executed 47 people since the New Year; an average of about three people a day. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran decried the hangings as "an execution binge orchestrated by the intelligence and security agencies."[1]

By the end of the month, the United Nations reported that Iran had executed at least 66 people, including three known to be political dissidents. According to the UN, executions were running at triple the rate of the previous year when about 18 to 25 people were executed a month. The UN estimated about 300 executions occurred in Iran in 2010. Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated, "We have urged Iran, time and time again, to halt executions... I am very dismayed that instead of heeding our calls, the Iranian authorities appear to have stepped up the use of the death penalty... I call upon Iran to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty."[2] Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast blasted the West for condemning Iran's executions. He said that 80 percent of those hanged were drug smugglers and stated, "If Iran does not combat drugs, Europe and the West will be hurt."[3]

Iranian opposition leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi,[4] as well as commentators[5][6][7] asserted that the Iranian regime has stepped up executions in a bid to intimidate and silence the Iranian opposition from taking to the streets like in the 2009–2010 Iranian election protests.

In May 2011, Mohammad Javad Larijani, head of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, threatened to allow the transit of illegal drugs through Iranian territory to Europe if the West continued to criticize the Iranian government for its practice of executing drug traffickers. Larajani stated that ceasing the practice would reduce the overall number of executions in Iran by 74 percent "but the way will be paved for the smuggling of narcotics to Europe."[8]

In July 2011, Amnesty International stated that Iran was on course for a record year in executions.[9] In the first six months of 2011, according to Amnesty, Iran had executed 320 people, an average of almost two executions a day. Other human rights groups placed the execution count even higher.[10]

In December 2011, Amnesty International reported that 600 people had been executed in Iran through the end of November, with 488 of the executions carried out for alleged drug offenses. Amnesty warned of a "new wave of drug offense executions" based on its figures that showed a threefold increase in drug-related executions from 2009. The report said that Afghan nationals were particularly at risk for drug offense, with as many as 4,000 Afghans on death row in Iran.[11]

In his first report to the UN Human Rights Council on Iran in March 2012, Ahmed Shaheed, the newly appointed UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, stated that Iran had executed a total of 670 people in 2011.[12]

Public executions

On April 27, 2011, Amnesty International condemned the sharp raise in the rate of public executions in Iran during 2011. By that date, Amnesty reported as many as 13 had been hanged in public, compared to 14 in all of 2010. The figure also included the first executions of juvenile offenders in the world for the 2011 calendar year. An Amnesty official stated, "It is deeply disturbing that despite a moratorium on public executions ordered in 2008, the Iranian authorities are once again seeking to intimidate people by such spectacles which not only dehumanize the victim, but brutalize those who witness it."[13][14]

Earlier, on April 21, 2011, the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre also condemned Iran's increase in public executions. He stated, "The increased number of public executions using brutal methods such as suffocation by being hoisted up by a crane are particularly grotesque and not worthy of a modern society." Norwegian research had shown 15 public executions in 2011, as compared to 19 in 2010.[15]

Cranes Campaign

In response to the Iranian regime's spate of public executions, in March 2011 United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) launched its "Cranes Campaign," with the goal of pressuring crane manufacturers worldwide to end their business in Iran in order to prevent the use of their equipment for such violent ends.[16][17] Through its campaign, UANI has succeeded in pressuring Terex (U.S.),[18] Tadano (Japan),[19] Liebherr,[20] UNIC (Japan),[21] and Konecranes (Finland)[22] to end their business in Iran. Tadano and UNIC, both of Japan, ended their Iran sales after UANI presented graphic photographic evidence of their cranes being used in public executions in the country.[23]

Secret executions

An interim report on human rights in Iran released in October 2011 by Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, revealed that secret executions had been taking place in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad in eastern Iran. According to Shaheed, Iranian authorities conducted 300 secret executions in Vakilabad in 2010 and another 146 executions as of the report's publication in 2011.[24]

Notable executions
  • January 24, 2011: Iran executed political prisoners Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei for allegedly taking photos and footage of the Iranian election protests as well as chanting slogans promoting the People's Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), a banned opposition group.[25]
  • January 29, 2011: Iran executed dual Dutch-Iranian citizen Zahra Bahrami on drug trafficking charges which were disputed by her family. Iranian authorities initially arrested her for her participation in the December 2009 Ashura protests. Bahrami had previous criminal record in the Netherlands for drug trafficking.[26] In protest of her execution, the Dutch foreign ministry decided to freeze all contacts with Iran,[27] and later recalled the ambassador.[28]

See also

References
  1. "Rights group decries 'execution binge' in Iran". AP. 16 January 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  2. Robert Evans (2 February 2011). "Iran executions three times last year's rate: U.N." Reuters. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  3. Hiedeh Farmani (1 February 2011). "Iran lashes out at West over executions". AFP. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  4. Meris Lutz (2 February 2010). "Opposition leaders slam 'rubber-stamp' death sentences". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  5. Barbara Slavin (31 January 2011). "Iran Cracks Down While Egypt Cracks Up". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 4 February 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  6. Irwin Cotler (31 January 2011). "Execution-happy Iran adds to its rapidly growing butcher's bill". National Post. Archived from the original on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  7. Sayeh Hassan (2 February 2011). "Frightened Iran steps up its murders". National Post. Archived from the original on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  8. Ali Akbar Dareni (15 May 2011). "Iran threatens to let heroin, opium be trafficked to Europe if West keeps up criticism". Associated Press. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  9. "Report: Iran on Pace for Record Year for Capital Punishment". Fox News. 8 July 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  10. Saeed Kamali Dehghan (7 July 2011). "Iran escalates use of capital punishment". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  11. Saeed Kamali Dehghan (15 December 2011). "Iran criticised over capital punishment 'killing spree'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  12. "Iran executed 670 in 2011, says U.N. investigator". Reuters. 12 March 2012.
  13. Castle, Tim (27 April 2011). "Iran steps up rate of public executions: Amnesty". Reuters. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  14. "Sharp rise in public executions as Iran executes first juvenile offenders in 2011". Amnesty International. 27 April 2011. Archived from the original on 3 June 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  15. "Norway blasts 'grotesque' hike in Iran public executions". AFP. 21 April 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  16. "UANI Calls on Terex to End Its Business in Iran in New Cranes Campaign". United Against Nuclear Iran. 16 March 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  17. Mark Wallace (6 July 2011). "Iran's execution binge". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  18. Bob Tita (24 March 2011). "Terex Convinces Lobbying Group It Has Stopped Doing Business With Iran". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones Newswires. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  19. Dudi Cohen (15 July 2011). "Japanese firm cuts ties with Iran over crane executions". YnetNews. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  20. "Construction Company Liebherr to End Its Business in Iran Following UANI Cranes Campaign". United Against Nuclear Iran. 24 August 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  21. Reut Cohen (8 August 2011). "Crane Manufacturer, UNIC, Ends Business With Iran". Neon Tommy. Archived from the original on 17 August 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  22. Reut Cohen (1 September 2011). "Finnish Crane Manufacturer Ends Business With Iran". Neon Tommy. Archived from the original on 4 September 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  23. Stephen White (1 August 2011). "Execution evidence stops Tadano selling in Iran". ConstructionWeekOnline.com. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  24. "Iran secretly executing hundreds of prisoners: UN". AFP. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  25. "Iranian opposition activists hanged for protest footage". BBC News. 24 January 2011. Archived from the original on 15 February 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  26. Vermaat, Emerson (2011). "Brutal Iranian Regime Hangs Dutch-Iranian Woman and Praises "Islamic Liberation Movement" in Egypt". PipeLineNews.org LLC. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  27. "Dutch freeze contacts with Iran over hanging". BBC News. 29 January 2011. Archived from the original on 30 January 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  28. "Sahra Bahrami: Dutch recall Iran envoy in burial row". BBC News. 7 February 2011. Archived from the original on 8 February 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
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