Iran | Nearly 100 people executed in 1st 2 months of this year

At least 94 put to death in January and February, with escalating use of death penalty against persecuted ethnic minorities.

Horrific sexual violence and other torture allegedly used to extract false confessions

‘The Iranian authorities are carrying out executions on a frightening scale’ - Roya Boroumand

The Iranian authorities executed at least 94 people in January and February this year alone, in a notable rise in executions compared to the same time last year, according to research by Amnesty International and the Iranian human rights organisation the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center.

The figures show an escalating use of the death penalty against persecuted ethnic minorities, with 28 people from Iran’s minority groups among those executed so far this year.

Of the minority group members executed so far in 2023, 19 were convicted of drug-related offences, seven of murder, and 2 of the overly-broad and vaguely-worded charges of “spreading corruption on earth” and “enmity against God”, neither of which meet the principle of legality.

In late February, Iranian officials executed an Ahwazi Arab man and a Kurdish man in secret following grossly unfair trials. The authorities have also sentenced to death at least another 6 Ahwazi Arabs and six Baluchis in recent weeks, some of whom were convicted in relation to protests that have engulfed Iran since last September.

On 20 February, Hassan Abyat, an Ahwazi Arab man, was executed in Sepidar prison in Khuzestan province, while Arash (Sarkawt) Ahmadi, a Kurdish man, was executed on 22 February in Dizel Abad prison in Kermanshah province. Informed sources told Amnesty that, following their arrests, interrogators subjected both men to torture and other abuse to force them to “confess”. Their forced confessions were broadcast on state media in violation of the right to presumption of innocence and in an attempt by the authorities to vilify them and justify their executions. They were also denied access to legal representation and were executed in secret, with no final visit or notice given to their families.

Hassan Abyat was sentenced to death twice - once by a Revolutionary Court for “enmity against God” and once by a Criminal Court for murder - in relation to the death of an agent from the paramilitary Basij force in 2011 and alleged membership of an “opposition group”. Abyat had denied any involvement in the agent’s death. After subjecting him to enforced disappearance, interrogators tied Abyat to a bed specially-made for torture, beat him with cables and administered electric shocks to his testicles, according to a witness who also told Amnesty that scars remained on Abyat’s body from the torture. The court convicted him without investigating his torture allegations.

Arash (Sarkawt) Ahmadi, who was arrested in January 2021, was sentenced to death for “enmity against God” in connection with his previous membership of a banned Iranian-Kurdish opposition group and the death of a member of the security forces. According to Kurdish human rights activists, Revolutionary Guards interrogators forced him to give “confessions” under torture and other ill-treatment.

Roya Boroumand, Abdorrahman Boroumand Center’s Executive Director, said:

“The Iranian authorities are carrying out executions on a frightening scale.

“Their actions amount to an assault on the right to life and a shameless attempt not only to further oppress ethnic minorities but to spread fear that dissent will be met with brute force, either in the streets or in the gallows.”

Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, said:

“It is harrowing that executions routinely occur amid the systematic use of torture-tainted ‘confessions’ to convict defendants in grossly unfair trials.

“The world must act now to pressure the Iranian authorities to establish an official moratorium on executions, quash unfair convictions and death sentences, and drop all charges related to the peaceful participation in protests

“We also urge all states to exercise universal jurisdiction over all Iranian officials reasonably suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes under international law and other grave violations of human rights.”

Fresh death sentences

In recent weeks at least 12 people from the Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi ethnic minorities have been sentenced to death following grossly unfair trials.

On 14 February, 6 Ahwazi Arab men - Ali Mojadam, Moein Khanfari, Mohammad Reza Mojadam, Seyed Salem Mousavi, Seyed Adnan Mousavi, and Habib Deris - were told they had been sentenced to death following a group trial before a Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz on the charge of “enmity against God” for alleged “membership in illegal groups” in a case dating back to 2017. According to Ahwazi Arab human rights activists, their torture-tainted “confessions” were used to convict them.

In December and January, at least six young men from the Baluchi minority were sentenced to death in separate trials in relation to protests in Sistan and Baluchestan province last September. Shoeib Mirbaluchzehi Rigi, Kambiz Khorout, Ebrahim Narouie, Mansour Hout, Nezamoddin Hout and Mansour Dahmaredeh, who has a physical disability, were sentenced to death for “spreading corruption on earth” and/or “enmity against God” for arson and stone-throwing. International law prohibits the use of the death penalty for offences that do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” involving intentional killing. According to sources with knowledge of the matter, interrogators subjected the men to torture, including sexual violence, to force them to make “confessions”. They stuck needles into Narouie’s genitals and beat Mansour Dahmardeh so severely they broke his teeth and nose.

Source: amnesty.org.uk, Staff, March 4, 2023

_____________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW US ON:

TELEGRAM

TWITTER

CONTACT: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Florida | 49 years on death row, killer of Bonita Springs teen learns death date

A Fort Myers man on death row for nearly five decades learned his execution date as Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his order Thursday, July 30. Harold Gene Lucas, then 24, shot and killed his 16-year-old girlfriend, Anthia Jill Piper in Bonita Springs on August 14, 1976. Lucas was 24 when he was charged in Piper's shooting death at her parents' home on Aug. 14, 1976. The execution is set for Sept. 1 in a state that has accelerated its pace under DeSantis the past two years, with a record of 19 executions in 2025. Piper was shot seven times by Lucas, who claimed to be intoxicated.

Idaho | How Bryan Kohberger’s Guilty Plea Move Could Be His Death Sentence

If Bryan Kohberger successfully withdraws his guilty plea and goes to trial for the murders of four University of Idaho students, it could lead to him being sentenced to death, experts told Newsweek . Kohberger, 31, filed a handwritten petition on Monday from the Idaho Maximum Security Penitentiary, where he is serving four consecutive life sentences for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen in a rental home near the university's campus in Moscow, Idaho, in 2022. Kohberger pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbings just over a year ago, a month before jury selection was set to start.

Florida executes Dominick Occhicone

Florida executes 2 men in a day. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has made Florida's death chamber the nation’s busiest at the end of his final term. STARKE, Fla. — Florida on Tuesday became the first state in nearly a decade to carry out two executions in a single day, the last an 80-year-old man who was the second-oldest inmate known to receive a lethal injection in modern U.S. history. Hours earlier, the state executed a former police officer convicted of killing a young girl.

Florida | Former warden recalls botched electrocution that left him battling PTSD for 13 years and turned him into an abolitionist

Ron McAndrew anticipated it would be just another standard execution. He had been assigned to carry out the death of Cuban refugee Pedro Medina via electric chair within the confines of Florida State Prison. Fifteen years had passed since Medina's conviction for the murder of 52-year-old Dorothy James, and McAndrew's responsibility was to oversee the administration of lethal electrical currents to his brain. Having already supervised two previous executions using the identical procedure and raised in a community that strongly supported capital punishment, he expected a swift conclusion with justice delivered.

North Korea | 'I was only 9': North Korean defector recalls childhood memory of public execution

Kim Eun-joo was 9 years old when her teacher stopped their lesson and told the class to follow her outside. The children were marched to a public execution ground in North Korea. “I would cry even when our family dog died,” Kim said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. “But the first time I watched humans killing a human, I had no words for what I was feeling. It was the most brutal scene I have ever seen, in any movie or in real life.” The memory has stayed with her ever since. Now a human rights advocate after defecting from North Korea, Kim recently brought that childhood scene to the 9th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, where North Korea’s use of public executions and capital punishment was officially placed on the agenda for the first time.

Iran executes 20-year-old protester as fears grow for other detainees

Iranian authorities executed 20-year-old protester Arvin Kheirkhah at Shahroud prison on Saturday morning, according to information obtained by Iran International, amid concerns that several other detainees could also face execution. Kheirkhah was arrested during the January protests and sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court on charges including moharebeh , or “waging war against God.” He was transferred to solitary confinement on Wednesday ahead of the execution. His family gathered outside Shahroud prison on Friday night in an attempt to stop the sentence from being carried out. According to information received by Iran International, Kheirkhah told his family in a final conversation: “Don’t let them forget me. We stood up for the liberation of our homeland. Don’t let the path we chose be silenced.”

Florida executes James Duckett

Double execution: 1st of 2 inmates is put to death in Florida Florida has executed James Duckett, a 68-year-old former cop convicted of killing an 11-year-old girl in 1987. The state is set to execute an 80-year-old man 6 hours later for a 1986 murder. Florida carried out the 1st double execution in more than 60 years, executing former police officer James Duckett and later scheduling the execution of 80‑year‑old Dominick Occhicone, amid Governor Ron DeSantis’s aggressive push to increase death penalties in the state. Florida has put to death the 1st of 2 inmates in the state's 1st double execution in more than 60 years amid an aggressive death penalty push by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

After Nearly 30 Years and a Supreme Court Reversal: Assessing the Likely Result of Richard Glossip’s Oklahoma Retrial

DPN asked Grok for a legal analysis of Richard Glossip’s upcoming murder retrial and its likely disposition. Most likely outcome of Richard Glossip’s retrial: acquittal or a hung jury leading to dismissal or no further prosecution, rather than a conviction for first-degree murder. A conviction remains possible but is the less probable result given the severely damaged core evidence and the state’s own prior admissions. Death is off the table. Case background

Two Executions In Six Hours: Florida Set For Historical Double Execution Tuesday

Florida is preparing to execute two death row inmates on Tuesday, July 28, in an action that would mark the state’s first double execution in more than 60 years. Former police officer James Duckett, 68, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 12 p.m., followed six hours later by 80-year-old Dominick Occhicone at 6 p.m. If carried out, these will mark the 39th and 40th executions under Gov. Ron DeSantis and the 11th and 12th in the state since the beginning of 2026. In response, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) has launched petition and letter-writing efforts asking DeSantis to halt both procedures. The group has organized two public vigils outside Florida State Prison in Raiford, set for 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., contingent on whether stays are issued.

Texas | New Evidence Challenges Rodney Reed Death Penalty Conviction

AUSTIN, Texas — Nearly three decades after Rodney Reed was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of Stacey Stites, prosecutors and law enforcement officials are urging Texas’ highest criminal court to fully examine new evidence they argue raises serious questions about his conviction before the state carries out an irreversible punishment. Fair and Just Prosecution, joined by the Law Enforcement Action Partnership and 29 current and former prosecutors and law enforcement officials, filed an amicus brief urging the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to fully review new evidence in Reed’s death penalty case, according to an FJP press release.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog