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U.S. | I'm a Death Row Pastor. They're Just Ordinary Folks

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In the early 1970s I was a North Carolinian, white boy from the South attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and working in East Harlem as part of a program. In my senior year, I visited men at the Bronx House of Detention. I had never been in a prison or jail, but people in East Harlem were dealing with these places and the police all the time. This experience truly turned my life around.

Iran | 3 Executed for Rape in Bandarabbas, Woman Executed in Kerman

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Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); July 4, 2023: State media have reported the execution of three unnamed men for rape charges in Bandarabbas Central Prison.

According to the Judiciary’s Mizan news agency, three men were executed in Bandarabbas Central Prison on 4 July. Quoting Mojtaba Ghahremani, the Hormozgan Chief Justice, the report states that the three unnamed men were sentenced to death for rape charges.

The three men who all worked for a beauty business, are alleged to have committed the rape when the clients were under anaesthesia. One is reported to have been a technician and doctor’s assistant and the other two nurses.

In cases of rape, there is a high chance of defendants being tortured to make false confessions, which is used to issue death sentences. Iran is one of the few countries in the world to still carry out rape executions.

According to the 2022 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 23 people were executed for rape charges in 2022 compared to 10 in 2021 and 12 in 2020. With today’s executions, seven people have so far been executed for rape charges in 2023.

Baluch Woman Afsaneh Shahiki Executed in Kerman


Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); July 3, 2023: Afsaneh Shahiki, a Baluch woman sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, was executed in Kerman Central Prison.

According to Hal Vash, a Baluch woman was executed in Kerman Central Prison on 2 July. Her identity has been reported as 50-year-old Afsaneh Shahiki who was sentenced to qisas for murder.

An informed source is quoted as saying: “Afsaneh was arrested 8 years ago after shooting her husband dead in Bam. She was transferred to Kerman and sentenced to death which was carried out at 7 in the morning.”

At the time of writing, her execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Ethnic minorities, the Baluch in particular, are grossly overrepresented in execution numbers in Iran. In 2022, at least 174 Baluch minorities including 3 women, were executed in 22 prisons across Iran, making up 30% of overall executions. This is while they represent just 2-6% of Iran’s population. 20% of all executions in the first six months of 2023 were also Baluch.

Iran is the biggest executioner of women. In 2022, at least 16 women were executed. Afsaneh Shahiki is the seventh woman to be executed in 2023. 

According to Iran Human Rights’ report on Women and Death Penalty in Iran on the occasion of World Day Against the Death Penalty, at least 164 women were executed between 2010-October 2021. 

In 66% of the known murder cases, the women were convicted of killing their husband or partner. Within the marriage, a woman does not have the right to divorce, even in cases of domestic violence and abuse, which are hidden in cultural codes and language.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, July 4-3, 2023


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

— Oscar Wilde
Location: Iran
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