Iran: Hundreds feared executed in Mashhad's Vakilabad prison

Iran: Collective hanging

Iran Human Rights, August 25: According to unofficial reports from several sources in Iran several hundred prisoners might have been executed in the Vakilabad prison of Mashhad, north east of Iran, in the past year. The executions have taken place secretly and neither the prisoners nor their families were informed prior to their execution. Most of those executed are thought to be convicted of drug related charges.

Iran Human Rights once again urges the United Nations to send their Special Rapporteur as soon as possible to Iran.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of Iran Human Rights said:" There are reports of mass executions and tens or perhaps hundreds of prisoners and we believe hundreds of prisoners are in danger of imminent execution". Amiry-Moghaddam added: "We urge the world community to act now. The Special Rapporteur of the United Nations must visit Iran now and investigate these reports".

In April several Afghan sources reported that bodies of 45 Afghan citizens who had been executed in a city in northeast of Iran were transferred to Afghanistan. According to these reports the executions had taken place within three days. The Iranian authorities denied these reports but several Afghan sources belonging to Afghanistan’s civil society that Iran Human Rights have been in contact with have reported that the actual number of the executed Afghans who were delivered in groups to their families in Afghanistan were higher than the 45 reported cases.

Two weeks ago, the website Green Voice of Freedom reported that " in the past few days, 70 prisoners were suddenly executed in Mashhad Prison.” The report was based on information from a prisoner who was in the Vakilabad prison.

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran also reported that a knowledgeable source has informed them that in the past few months over one hundred people have been executed in northeastern city of Mashhad.

According to this report: “Judicial authorities at Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad have executed over one hundred prisoners, a majority of which were convicted of drug-related charges.”

Ahmad Ghabel, a religious scholar close to former president Khatami, who had spent 170 days in the Vakilabad prison of Mashad and who was released in June, at least 50 people were executed in the section were he was imprisoned. He also said that on 10th of April 35 people were hanged in the Vakilabad prison of Mashhad while only five of the executions were reported by the official Iranian media.

According to sources in Iran the mass executions in Mashhad have increased in number and frequency during the past weeks.

Several sources have also reported that Mr. Sadegh Larijani, head of the Iranian judiciary, in a secret letter has asked the permission of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, to implement the executions of 1120 prisoners whose death sentences have been approved by the Supreme Court.

Iran Human Rights can not rule out the possibility of similar mass executions in other Iranian prisons and is currently investigating the facts regarding the reported mass executions.

Related coverage: "Iran : 500 pendaisons depuis deux mois", Iran-Resist, Sept. 1, 2010

Source: Iran Human Rights, August 25, 2010

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