Following the Women, Life, Freedom uprising, the Islamic Republic has started a new wave of death sentences in Iran. The number of executed prisoners has increased strikingly relative to recent years. The use of retaliatory executions as a political tool to instill fear among the people, with the aim of ending peaceful protests, has become a mechanism of the oppressive system of the Islamic Republic. Many citizens have been subjected to state-sponsored murder (execution) without fair trials.
The political use of executions has been the response of the Islamic Republic to the citizens’ protests since its rise to power. Statistics indicate that over the past four decades political executions have been used disproportionately against ethnic non-Persian populations. Executing non-Persian ethnic minority groups has been less costly for the government due to the lack of widespread support for these groups and their marginalization from the media space. It has always been used as a tool of pressure, intimidation, terror, and suppression against protesters.
Currently, a significant number of political prisoners in Iranian prisons have been sentenced to death, and the execution of these sentences is imminent. Among the political prisoners who have been sentenced to death and are currently at risk of execution are six Arab political prisoners from Ahvaz: Ali Mojadam, Mohammadreza Mojadam, Moein Khanfari, Habib Daris, Salem Mousavi, and Adnan Mousavi Ghobishavi, who are being held in inhumane conditions in Sheiban Prison, Ahvaz.
According to the investigations of Iran Prison Atlas, in the cases of these six Arab political prisoners, fair trials have been violated, uncontrolled violence has been used during their arrests, the defendants have been subjected to torture and inhumane treatment to obtain forced confessions, the families of some defendants have been detained, threatened, and harassed to put pressure on them, the defendants have been deprived of access to legal representation, and despite the awareness of their confessions obtained under torture, the court has based its rulings on these forced confessions. These six Arab political prisoners from Ahvaz have been sentenced to death on charges of enmity against God.
These sentences have been issued within the framework of the Islamic Republic’s continued mechanism of suppressing Arabs—a mechanism that has remained constant in Arab-populated areas of Khuzestan with minor changes over the past two decades: the suppression of civil society, incitement and encouragement of violence by protesters, arbitrary arrests, brutal and unprecedented violence by agents, violations of organized fair trials, harassment and persecution of the families of detainees, disruption of communication, issuing long prison sentences, implementing retaliatory executions, and non-delivery of the remains of those executed to their families.
Therefore, as signatory human rights organizations of this statement, we call on all human rights organizations and international bodies to intervene effectively, actively, and urgently to halt the execution of all prisoners imprisoned in the prisons of the Islamic Republic and, in particular, the Arab political prisoners Ali Mojadam, Mohammadreza Mojadam, Moein Khanfari, Habib Daris, Salem Mousavi, and Adnan Mousavi. We demand effective intervention and comprehensive support from all free individuals and international organizations for political and civil prisoners in Iran.
Following the Women, Life, Freedom uprising, the Islamic Republic has started a new wave of death sentences in Iran. The number of executed prisoners has increased strikingly relative to recent years. The use of retaliatory executions as a political tool to instill fear among the people, with the aim of ending peaceful protests, has become a mechanism of the oppressive system of the Islamic Republic. Many citizens have been subjected to state-sponsored murder (execution) without fair trials.
The political use of executions has been the response of the Islamic Republic to the citizens’ protests since its rise to power. Statistics indicate that over the past four decades political executions have been used disproportionately against ethnic non-Persian populations. Executing non-Persian ethnic minority groups has been less costly for the government due to the lack of widespread support for these groups and their marginalization from the media space. It has always been used as a tool of pressure, intimidation, terror, and suppression against protesters.
Currently, a significant number of political prisoners in Iranian prisons have been sentenced to death, and the execution of these sentences is imminent. Among the political prisoners who have been sentenced to death and are currently at risk of execution are six Arab political prisoners from Ahvaz: Ali Mojadam, Mohammadreza Mojadam, Moein Khanfari, Habib Daris, Salem Mousavi, and Adnan Mousavi Ghobishavi, who are being held in inhumane conditions in Sheiban Prison, Ahvaz.
According to the investigations of Iran Prison Atlas, in the cases of these six Arab political prisoners, fair trials have been violated, uncontrolled violence has been used during their arrests, the defendants have been subjected to torture and inhumane treatment to obtain forced confessions, the families of some defendants have been detained, threatened, and harassed to put pressure on them, the defendants have been deprived of access to legal representation, and despite the awareness of their confessions obtained under torture, the court has based its rulings on these forced confessions. These six Arab political prisoners from Ahvaz have been sentenced to death on charges of enmity against God.
These sentences have been issued within the framework of the Islamic Republic’s continued mechanism of suppressing Arabs—a mechanism that has remained constant in Arab-populated areas of Khuzestan with minor changes over the past two decades: the suppression of civil society, incitement and encouragement of violence by protesters, arbitrary arrests, brutal and unprecedented violence by agents, violations of organized fair trials, harassment and persecution of the families of detainees, disruption of communication, issuing long prison sentences, implementing retaliatory executions, and non-delivery of the remains of those executed to their families.
Therefore, as signatory human rights organizations of this statement, we call on all human rights organizations and international bodies to intervene effectively, actively, and urgently to halt the execution of all prisoners imprisoned in the prisons of the Islamic Republic and, in particular, the Arab political prisoners Ali Mojadam, Mohammadreza Mojadam, Moein Khanfari, Habib Daris, Salem Mousavi, and Adnan Mousavi. We demand effective intervention and comprehensive support from all free individuals and international organizations for political and civil prisoners in Iran.
Signatories of the statement:
- Rasank
- Haalvsh
- The Baloch Activists Campaign
- Siamak Porzand Foundation
- Kurdpa news agency
- United For Iran
- Abdul Rahman Broumand Foundation
- Karun Human Rights Organization
- Kurdistan Human Rights Network
- Ahvaz Human Rights Organization (AHRO)
- All human rights for everyone in Iran
- Azerbaijan Human Rights Organization (AHRO)
- Association for Human Rights of Azerbaijanis in Iran (ARCDH)
- The Human Rights For Turkman Sahra (TUHRA)
- Children of Imprisoned Parents International (COIPI)
- Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran (AHRAZ)