Human Rights Crisis in Iran: Amputations and Executions Surge Amid International Alarm

October 30, 2024 – Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have raised urgent alarms over escalating human rights abuses in Iran, where both corporal punishments and executions are being enforced at alarming rates.

Amnesty International reports that five men held at Urumieh Central Prison in West Azerbaijan Province – Hadi Rostami, Kasra Karami, Mehdi Shahivand, Mehdi Sharifian, and Morteza Esmaeilian – are at immediate risk of having their fingers amputated by Iranian authorities. This follows the October 29 use of a guillotine machine by prison officials to amputate four fingers from the right hands of two other men, brothers Mehrdad and Shahab Teymouri, who were transferred to solitary confinement just prior to their punishment.

The situation for the five men facing similar sentences has intensified after news emerged that at least two of them, Rostami and Karami, have also been moved to solitary confinement. All five were convicted of robbery, but Amnesty International has documented multiple due process violations, including the denial of legal representation during their investigations and reliance on confessions extracted under torture. Despite retracting these statements in court, Iranian authorities refused to investigate the torture allegations, sentencing Rostami, Shahivand, and Sharifian to have four fingers amputated, leaving only their thumbs and palms intact.

Amnesty International calls for immediate international intervention to halt these state-sanctioned acts, which amount to torture under international law. Amputation as punishment violates Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a state party. This treaty explicitly prohibits torture and all forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

The human rights situation in Iran extends beyond physical punishments to include a sharp increase in executions. On October 30, reports from Iranian human rights media confirmed the execution of five prisoners, including an Afghan national, across two prisons in Qezel Hesar, Karaj, and Jiroft, Kerman Province. Four of these individuals were executed at Qezel Hesar Prison in Karaj – two for drug-related charges and two for armed robbery. Additionally, at least eight other inmates sentenced to death at the same prison were placed in solitary confinement on October 28, suggesting they too may face imminent execution, as their families were summoned for final visits.

The Iranian government’s escalating use of the death penalty, particularly for drug-related offenses, has shown a sharp upward trend. Human rights organizations report an 84% increase in executions in 2023 compared to the previous year, underscoring a troubling pattern that has persisted over the last four years. In Jiroft, Kerman Province, yet another prisoner was executed on October 30, following a conviction for deliberate murder.

Iran’s ongoing reliance on severe punishments, including both corporal punishment and executions, continues to draw condemnation from international human rights groups. As these incidents intensify, organizations like Amnesty International are urging global leaders and the broader international community to take concrete action to pressure Iran to uphold its human rights obligations and cease these grave abuses.

Source: irannewsupdate.com, Staff, October 31, 2024

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
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