Several UN experts in human rights and the European Union repudiated this Friday the execution of three prisoners who were accused of killing security agents during the peaceful protests that took place last year after the death of a young woman in a police station to which she had been taken for not wearing the Islamic veil correctly.
According to the information received by these United Nations experts, the judicial process was not fair and torture was used to force the defendants to confess.
“The executions of these men today raise our concerns that the Iranian authorities continue to have little respect for international law. The death penalty has been applied after a trial that has not met international standards of justice and due process,” they said.
The experts pointed out that since last January 1, at least 259 executions have been reported, the majority for drug-related crimes, and they have involved people of minorities in a disproportionate way.
“The exact number of executions is unknown due to the government’s lack of transparency.so the figure is likely to be higher,” they said in a statement.
The signatories were the United Nations special rapporteur on Iran, Javaid Rehman; the rapporteur on the independence of judges, Margaret Satterthwaite, and the rapporteur on extrajudicial and summary executions, Morris Tidball-Binz.
“Cruel and inhuman punishment”
The European Union (EU) also condemned the three executions and called on the Iranian regime to put an end to the “reprehensible practice” of imposing and applying the death penalty to people who have participated in protests.
“Today, Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaghoubi and Saleh Mirashemi they were executed after being arrested and sentenced to death in connection with the recent protests in Iran. The EU condemns these executions in the strongest possible terms,” the office of the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said in a statement.
In its note, Borrell’s office urged the Iranian authorities “to refrain from applying the death penalty and from carrying out future executions, and that they follow a coherent policy towards the total abolition of the death penalty”.
“The EU reiterates its firm and principled opposition to the use of the death penalty at all times and in all circumstances. The death penalty is an inhuman and cruel punishment,” the statement said.
Judicial sources of the Iranian regime reported that Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaghoubi and Saleh Mirashemi were found guilty of “moharebeh” (“war against God”) and possession of a weapon at a demonstration in the city of Isfahan.
Arrested last November, the three men were sentenced to death in January. They were also found guilty of being members of “illegal groups with the intention of affecting the security of the country and of collusion for crimes against security,” said the information agency of the judicial authority. Mizan Online.
“According to the evidence and the statements of the defendants, the shots of these three people led to the martyrdom of three members of the security forces,” reported Mizan Online.
Iran was rocked by a wave of protests following the death in custody on September 16 of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish Mahsa Amini for allegedly violating a strict dress code imposed on women, which includes veiling. .
Iran is the country, after China, that executes the most people, according to Amnesty International.
(With information from AFP and EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com