in the past few days, Iran has sentenced a number of MEK supporters to death, on the pretext of “waging war against God.” These were sham trials in Iran’s Evin Prison, and the prisoners are now at risk of execution. As the new wave of executions start in Iran, opposition to the regime grows.
The clerical regime is so afraid that most of Iran’s youth will be receptive to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) that the regime is artificially creating a climate of terror. Their aim is to prevent a popular uprising. Their plan to create fear includes launching a coordinated wave of executions across Iran.
The regime does this by holding long-term prisoners, and then sentencing them to death when they need to apply pressure to the people or some group.
On September 11, for a third time, Branch 38 of the Mullahs’ Supreme Court judged seven Sunni political prisoners who were held in Ward 7 of Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, west of Tehran. The court upheld death sentences against the seven, repeating the sentences meted out by Branches 41 and 42 of the Supreme Court.
The seven prisoners, Farhad Salimi, Qassem Absteh, Davood Abdollahi, Ayub Karimi, Anwar Khezri, Khosrow Besharat, and Kamran Sheikha, were incarcerated for 11 years in Urmia, Evin, and Gohardasht prisons.
Another political prisoner, Haidar Ghorbani, from Kamyaran, in Kurdistan Province, was judged in Branch 27 of the clerical regime’s Supreme Court on Thursday, August 6, 2020. This branch of the court upheld Ghorbani’s death sentence and referred the case to the Sanandaj prosecution office responsible for carrying out the execution.
The regime’s Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi was not moved by the international condemnation of the criminal execution of Navid Afkari. Raisi said, “Justice-seeking judges who have to answer to God issue verdicts based on law and Sharia. Commotions must not and cannot impact the view of a judge.”
Ali Bagheri, the Judiciary’s International Affairs Deputy, commented on widespread protests outside Iran against the hanging of Navid Afkari. Bagheri said, “Those whose hands are stained with the blood of the Iranian nation are expected to shout in European capitals that ‘murderer, your path will continue.'”
The International Affairs Deputy attacked European countries for allowing Iranians to express their outrage at the barbaric execution of Afkari, claiming that europe “support[s] murder under the guise of human rights.”
Hans-Udo Muzel, the German Ambassador to Iran strongly condemned the execution of Afkari, but Ali Bagheri responded, saying, “If they have no clue about righteousness and justice, they should at least respect diplomatic norms and do not become a mouthpiece for spreading lies like an opposition group.”
The German Ambassador was called to Iran’s Foreign Ministry.
The regime may have thought that executing Afkari would instill fear in the population, but instead, it is generating more opposition.
When I interviewed #NavidAfkari’s mother she told me that she checked the judiciary website every day to check if her son is alive and today he’s not. She said I cannot even say the word execution. He was murdered. pic.twitter.com/kMb96uk7Ew
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) September 13, 2020
The Iranian opposition says the religious dictatorship ruling Iran resorts to the execution of those detained during the uprising because they are afraid of overthrow. The opposition has called on the UN Security Council, the Secretary-General, the Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, other human rights organizations, the EU and member states, to take urgent action.
The opposition says action is needed to save the lives of death row prisoners in prisons across the country. It reiterated the need to prevent further executions by sending an international delegation to Iranian prisons to meet with people imprisoned during the uprising.
