Iran: 55 executed in less than two weeks

Public execution in Shiraz, Iran, September 2014

Head of Supreme Human Rights Council in Iranian regime’s judiciary says executions are part of fighting narcotics and world should be grateful to us for that

NCRI - Along with the anti-human crime of throwing acid into the faces of defenseless women in Iran, the wave of executions in the cities across the country has increased.

In the span of 12 days (October 18 to 29) at least 55 prisoners have been executed in Iran. The real figure is much larger as the Iranian regime does not provide information on every execution being carried out in numerous prisons throughout the country.

A group of 17 prisoners were secretly hanged on Monday (October 27, 2014) in city of Taybad in northeastern Iran and 47 others are on death row. These executions followed the hanging of a group of eight inmates on October 18 in the same prison

Ten more prisoners were secretly hanged in the central prison in the western city of Orumiyeh, including Ebrahim Choupani, a severely mentally disturbed prisoner who was hanged on October 29.

Four other prisoners were also hanged early in the morning of October 27 in the same prison after another group of five were hanged on October 18 in a different prison in the city known as Darya.

At the insistence of regime’s officials, Rayhaneh Jabbari, a 26-year-old student and decorator was executed on October 25 in Gohardasht Prison in the city of Karaj after suffering seven and a half years of imprisonment. Mohammad Ghorbanzadeh, a male prisoner, was also hanged along with Rayhaneh.

In Rasht, according to the official website of Gilan’s province’s judiciary, nine people were executed between October 18 and 25 in that province, including a citizen of Afghanistan who was hanged on October 18.

A group of six prisoners were secretly hanged on October 23 in Adel Abad Prison in the city of Shiraz and two prisoners, including Dadkhoda Narouei, were secretly hanged in city of Kerman’s Shahab Prison.

On October 19, Fardin Ja’afarian, 18, was hanged in Tabriz. At the time of his arrest and alleged crime he was 14. This unlawful hanging severely violates many international conventions, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

On that same day, a group of eight prisoners were hanged in Ghezel Hessar Prison in Karaj. Also, on October 21, eight other prisoners were transferred to isolation to await their execution.

The Iranian regime - known by the people as the “Godfather of ISIS” - faced with the people’s wrath and revulsion of the intensifying suppression in the country and particularly following the recent wave of throwing acid onto Iranian women and girls, has resorted to a surge in executions to increase intimidation and fear in society

The executions are carried out with the approval and insistence of the most senior officials of this regime.

Reacting to reports by international bodies condemning the violation of human rights in Iran, Sadegh Larijani, the head of the regime’s Judiciary, said: “The more they attack us on the issue of human rights, the more resolute we become in carrying out the verdicts,” to state-run YJC.ir affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) on October 15.

In an interview with CNN, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the regime’s Supreme Council for Human Rights, brazenly said: “The report by Ahmed Shaheed [The UN Rapporteur on Situation of Human Rights in Iran] is neither credible nor objective. Yes, we do have executions in Iran, but the majority of them relate to narcotics and all the world, including the United States, and other Western communities, benefit from Iran’s combat against narcotics. Therefore, the Western world should appreciate Iran’s unilateral unrelenting war with narcotic crimes.”

Once again, the Iranian Resistance emphasizes that turning a blind eye to the international community regarding the catastrophic situation of human rights in Iran, will only embolden the criminals ruling that country. The only way to confront this savagery is through the adoption of a firm policy with regard to the religious dictatorship ruling Iran.

Source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, October 30, 2014

South Carolina executes Mikal Mahdi

Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers A man facing the death penalty for committing two murders was executed by firing squad on Friday, the second such execution in the US state of South Carolina this year. Mikal Mahdi, 42, was executed for the 2004 murder of 56-year-old James Myers, an off-duty police officer, and the murder of a convenience store employee three days earlier. According to a statement from the prison, "the execution was performed by a three-person firing squad at 6:01 pm (2201 GMT)," with Mahdi pronounced dead four minutes later.

Afghanistan | Four men publicly executed by Taliban with relatives of victims shooting them 'six or seven times' at sport stadium

Four men have been publicly executed by the Taliban, with relatives of their victims shooting them several times in front of spectators at a sport stadium. Two men were shot around six to seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the centre of Afghanistan's Badghis province, witnesses told an AFP journalist in the city. The men had been 'sentenced to retaliatory punishment' for shooting other men, after their cases were 'examined very precisely and repeatedly', the statement said. 'The families of the victims were offered amnesty and peace but they refused.'

USA | Why the firing squad may be making a comeback

South Carolina plans to execute Mikal Mahdi on Friday for the murder of a police officer, draping a hood over his head and firing three bullets into his heart. The choice to die by firing squad – rather than lethal injection or the electric chair – was Mahdi’s own, his attorney said last month: “Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi has chosen the lesser of three evils.” If it proceeds, Mahdi’s execution would be the latest in a recent string of events that have put the spotlight on the firing squad as a handful of US death penalty states explore alternatives to lethal injection, by far the nation’s dominant execution method.

I spent 16 years in solitary in South Carolina. This is what it did to me. | Opinion

South Carolinian Randy Poindexter writes about the effects 16 years of solitary confinement had on him ahead of South Carolina’s planned execution of Mikal Mahdi , who spent months in solitary as a young man. For 16 years, I lived in a concrete cell. Twenty-three hours a day, every day, for more than 3,000 days, South Carolina kept me in solitary confinement. I was a young man before I was sent to solitary — angry, untreated and unwell. I made mistakes. But I wasn’t sentenced to madness. That’s what solitary did to me. My mental health worsened with each passing day. At first, paranoia and depression set in. Then, hallucinations and self-mutilation. I talked to people who weren’t there. I cut myself to feel something besides despair. I could do nothing as four of my friends and fellow prisoners took their own lives rather than endure another day of torturous isolation.

Florida executes Michael Tanzi

Florida on Tuesday executed a death row inmate described by one local detective as a "fledgling serial killer" for the murder of a beloved Miami Herald employee. Florida executed Michael Tanzi on Tuesday, 25 years after the murder of beloved Miami Herald employee Janet Acosta, who was attacked in broad daylight on her lunch break in 2000. Michael Tanzi, 48, was executed by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Raiford and pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. ET.

South Carolina | Man who ambushed off-duty cop to face firing squad in second execution of its kind

Mikal Mahdi, 48, who was found guilty of killing an off-duty police officer and a convenience store worker, is the second inmate scheduled to executed by South Carolina's new firing squad A murderer who ambushed and shot an off duty police officer eight times before burning his body in a killing spree is set to become the second person to die by firing squad. South Carolina's highest court has rejected the last major appeal from Mikal Mahdi, 41, who is to be put to death with three bullets to the heart at 6pm on April 11 at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. Mahdi's lawyers said his original lawyers put on a shallow case trying to spare his life that didn't call on relatives, teachers or people who knew him and ignored the impact of weeks spent in solitary confinement in prison as a teen.

Louisiana | Lawyers of Jessie Hoffman speak about their final moments before execution

As Louisiana prepared its first execution in 15 years, a team of lawyers from Loyola Law were working to save Jessie Hoffman’s life. “I was a young lawyer three years out of law school, and Jessie was almost finished with his appeals at that time, and my boss told me we needed to file something for Jessie because he’s in danger of being executed,” Kappel said. Kappel and her boss came up with a civil lawsuit to file that said since they wouldn’t give him a protocol for his execution, he was being deprived of due process, and the lawsuit was in the legal process for the next 10 years.

Lethal Injection, Electric Chair, or Firing Squad? An Inhumane Decision for Death Row Prisoners

South Carolina resumed executions with the firing squad killing of Brad Sigmon last month. Mikal Madhi’s execution date is days away. The curtain shrieked as it was yanked open to reveal a 67-year-old man tied to a chair. His arms were pulled uncomfortably behind his back. The red bull’s-eye target on his chest rose and fell as he desperately attempted to still his breathing. The man, Brad Sigmon, smiled at his attorney, Bo King, seated in the front row before guards placed a black bag over his head. King said Sigmon appeared to be trying his best to put on a brave face for those who had come to bear witness.

Arizona | The cruelty of isolation: There’s nothing ‘humane’ about how we treat the condemned

On March 19, I served as a witness to the execution of a man named Aaron Gunches, Arizona’s first since 2022. During his time on death row, he begged for death and was ultimately granted what is likely more appropriately described as an emotionless state-assisted suicide. This experience has profoundly impacted me, leading to deep reflection on the nature of death, humanity, and the role we play in our final moments. When someone is in the end stages of life, we talk about hospice care, comfort, care, easing suffering and humane death. We strive for a “good death” — a peaceful transition. I’ve seen good ones, and I’ve seen bad, unplanned ones.

Execution date set for prisoner transferred to Oklahoma to face death penalty

An inmate who was transferred to Oklahoma last month to face the death penalty now has an execution date. George John Hanson, also known as John Fitzgerald Hanson, is scheduled to die on June 12 for the 1999 murder of 77-year-old Mary Bowles. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday set the execution date. The state’s Pardon and Parole Board has a tentative date of May 7 for Hanson’s clemency hearing, executive director Tom Bates said.

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