Death Penalty News

‘My biggest dream is that there will be Pride in the streets of Tehran’ Growing up in Iran, where homosexuality is punishable with the death penalty, Majid Parsa (pseudonym) struggled to accept his sexuality - until he discovered Tehran’s secret gay scene. But it was only when he moved to the UK that he found love and liberation, as he reveals here in Attitude's Rainbow World feature

After the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini and the subsequent protests, Iranian universities have also faced heightened repression and intensified control. The government's new "Population Growth" initiative, coupled with mandatory hijab laws, has transformed universities into enforcers of these policies, placing additional pressure on female students. Under the policy, universities offer academic grades and incentives for observing mandatory hijab, marrying, or having children, effectively turning these institutions into vehicles for promoting the Islamic Republic’s ideological goals.

Iran joined this Commission dedicated to promoting gender equality as a new member on Tuesday, for a four-year mandate. The news was received coldly. Several new members, including Iran and Pakistan, were elected Tuesday to join the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) - an intergovernmental body "dedicated exclusively to promoting gender equality and “empowerment of women ”, it is written on the UN website . The CSW is a 45-member functional commission belonging to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and was established in 1946. At an ECOSOC session on Tuesday, 12 new members were elected to join the CSW in 2022 and for a four-year term. 

The corridors of power within the Islamic Republic are ablaze with a series of sex scandals – seemingly more with each passing day.  Fresh revelations spotlighting the moral and sexual transgressions of high-ranking officials within the system continue to threaten or even topple yet another leader or pillar of Iran’s ruling Islamic system. The latest jolt came on August 19 when a new shockwave of explicit images in contravention of Sharia law emerged. The central figure in the latest scandal was Mohammed Masoudianfar, director general of the state radio and television educational and welfare complex, who featured in images of an act of sexual intimacy with a veiled woman. The woman was later revealed to be a married employee of state radio and television – amplifying the shock. The exposé surfaced through the Radio Gilan Telegram channel. 

The Iranian news website Entekhab published the complete text of the "Chastity and Hijab" bill, sparking heated debate among the public about personal liberties, women's rights and the extent of government control. The bill, which was presented to parliament on May 24 by the government of Ebrahim Raisi, outlines severe penalties for women who violate mandatory headscarf rules. Non-compliance with the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code is deemed as "nudity."  Offenders could face fines of up to 8 million tomans ($150), with the fines being doubled if not paid within a month, lose their jobs and be banned from social media activities for up to one year.  And repeat offenders would face imprisonment from six months to three years. The "Chastity and Hijab" bill has gained support from some officials of the Islamic Republic who consider the hijab a "red line."  Detractors argue that the proposed law focuses on punitive measures, restricts person...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Billboards across Iran's capital proclaim that women should wear their mandatory headscarves to honor their mothers. But perhaps for the first time since the chaotic days following Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, more women — both young and old — choose not to do so. Such open defiance comes after months of protests over the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police, for wearing her hijab too loosely. While the demonstrations appear to have cooled, the choice by some women not to cover their hair in public poses a new challenge to the country’s theocracy. The women's pushback also lays bare schisms in Iran that had been veiled for decades.

Indictments issued against 4 individuals on charges of ‘waging a war against God,’ Tehran prosecutor says, as protests over the death of Mahsa Amini enter their 38th day TEHRAN, Iran — More than 300 people have been indicted over Tehran protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, including four who were charged with an offense that can carry the death penalty, Iran’s judiciary said Monday. The Islamic Republic has witnessed a wave of protests over the death of 22-year-old Amini on September 16, after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women. The street violence has led to dozens of deaths, mostly among demonstrators but also among the security forces, and hundreds of protesters have been arrested. Tehran prosecutor Ali Salehi said that indictments have been issued for 315 people on charges of “congregating and colluding with the intention of acting against the country’s security,” “propaganda against the system,” an...

An Iranian man was flogged in the central prison of Yazd, central Iran, early this week for “transportation, and possession of alcoholic beverages”. The prisoner has been identified as 40-year-old Ali Afsari. He was arrested three years ago on the same charges and was sentenced to three years in prison and 75 lashes. The flogging sentence was carried out on Sunday, December 26, 2021. Under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, consumption of alcohol is punishable by 80 lashes, and if an individual is convicted three times the punishment on the fourth occasion is death. In July 2020, Iranian authorities executed a prisoner in Mashhad Central Prison for “drinking alcohol.” A 55-year-old, Mortaza Jamali, was named as the victim of the execution in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan province, in reports by independent media outlets and on social media. His execution led to a strong backlash on Iranian social media that time with many users saying that large corruption cases and extrajudicial killings of protes...

The state security forces arrested 13 young men and women for what they called “having fun and drinking alcohol” in a restaurant cafe in Tehran. The state-run Rokna news agency reported today that the state security forces surrounded the restaurant in Tehranpars district at 10 pm Thursday, and arrested 13 young men and women who were drinking “alcohol” and smoking hookah, along with the owners of the cafe. According to the report, the cafe is sealed-off and additional investigations are ongoing in this case. Despite the many problems Iranians and the economy face, officials, and the clerics at the very top of the regime prioritize cracking down on civil liberties instead of solving real problems. Violating privacy of Iranian citizens, Iranian authorities systematically raid private parties or restaurants arresting and sometimes flogging citizens under the guise of being improper veiled or drinking alcohol. In late March, The Head of Dezful’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts D...

The public flogging sentences for two men were carried out today in the city of Golbahar in northeast Iran. A Judicial Official in the province announced the public punishment saying that the flogging sentences of two young men convicted of theft were carried out in public in the city of Golbahar. In his comments carried by the state-run media, Golbahar Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor said that the men were each flogged 74 times. Golbahar is located 35 km northwest of Mashhad. Hundreds are routinely flogged in Iran each year, sometimes in public.  In the most recent flogging case, prison guards lashed four prisoners last month in Karaj Central Prison near Iran’s capital Tehran. The four prisoners, all under 30 years of age, were flogged on Wednesday October 21.  Two of the prisoners were identified as Behrouz Momeni and Mohsen Torkashvand who were accused of theft and sentenced to flogging.  It is not clear why the other two prisoners were lashed. More than 100 “offen...

Only three weeks after the harrowing murder of Romina Ashrafi ,13, who was beheaded in her sleep by her own father, two young women are murdered by their family members. The tragic deaths of Fatemeh Barihi, 19 and Reyhaneh Ameri, 22, who were murdered by their husband and father respectively, reinitiated the bitter debate over the savage honor killings in Iran sanctioned and institutionalized by the laws of the clerical regime. Reyhaneh Ameri, 22, was killed on June 15 by her father with an ax for coming home late. Reyhaneh had returned home at around 11:30 pm the night before and had a quarrel with her father. Her sister went to her parents’ home on Monday at around 8:30 or 9 am. When she entered there was no one home and Reyhaneh’s room was locked. She knocked constantly and no one answered. She noticed the rugs were in disarray. A few minutes later her father came home. Noticing her daughter the father was caught off guard, said he doesn’t know where the other...

The Iranian regime flogged five political prisoners and peaceful activists in June 2020. All of those flogged are people who have been arrested for peaceful activities or exercising their rights to freedom of speech. On Monday, June 8, the flogging sentence for Mohamamd Bagher Souri, detained during the nationwide November 2019 protests was carried out in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary. Souri was sentenced to five years of prison and 80 lashes. He was lashed 35 times by one of the prison guards. Souri’s back and feet were bruised and injured after the lashing. On the same day, two men were flogged for taking part in the November 2019 protests in the city of Urmia, northwestern Iran. Azerbaijani rights activists Ali Azizi and Eliar Hosseinzadeh, were lashed 20 times for “disturbing public order”. On June 5, a man in southwestern Iran was flogged 55 times on June 6 for criticizing and “refusing to apologize” to the local representative of the regime’s Supreme Lead...

NEW YORK CITY — The newly released UN Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran condemned Iran’s lethal homophobia in connection with a Jerusalem Post exposé on Tehran’s public hanging of man based on an anti-gay charge. According to Javaid Rehman, the UN Rapporteur who released his report on Monday to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, “The death penalty continues to be applied for a wide range of offences, in contravention of article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which notes that States parties that have not yet abolished the death penalty should only impose it for the most serious crimes. “ He added that “The Islamic Penal Code does not limit the application of the death penalty to such cases. The death penalty may be applied for example in some cases of adultery, for certain cases of consensual same-sex intercourse between men or for offences that are not well-define...

Sex outside of marriage is illegal under Iranian law and can carry death penalty Two Iranian politicians' sex tapes have been leaked on social media by activists trying to highlight the hypocrisy of officials who preach morality under strict Islamic law. The first video was posted online on August 4 and is said to have captured Ali Mohammad Ahmadi - the former governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad - having sexual relations with a woman. A second was leaked on August 9, and showed a naked Abbas Malekzadeh, the mayor of Sadra, caressing a nude woman, according to FRANCE 24 Observers. The video, thought to have been filmed by Malekzadeh, was shared four days after the politician was arrested for corruption, along with three other people from the city council. Adultery and sex outside of marriage are illegal under Iranian law and can carry the death penalty.  Well-placed sources allegedly told local media outlets, that Ahmadi had been set up by a foreign int...