The 2 males executed, Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare, died at Arak Jail in central Iran. That they had been arrested in Might 2020, accused of being concerned in a channel on the Telegram message app referred to as “Critique of Superstition and Faith,” in line with the U.S. Fee on Worldwide Non secular Freedom. Each males confronted months of solitary confinement and couldn’t contact their households, the fee mentioned.
“It’s of maximum concern to us. I don’t imagine that is only a one-off occasion,” Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, a member of the Congressionally mandated fee, informed The Related Press. “I feel that there’s a sense that Iran is more and more determined. And after we know authoritarian theocracies are determined, they typically flip to very, very excessive acts.”
The Mizan information company of Iran’s judiciary confirmed the executions, describing the 2 males as having insulted Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and promoted atheism. Mizan additionally accused them of burning a Quran, Islam’s holy e-book, although it wasn’t clear whether or not the lads allegedly did that or such imagery was shared within the Telegram channel.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, who leads Iran Human Rights, decried the executions as exposing the “medieval nature” of Iran’s theocracy.
“The worldwide group should present with its response that executions for expressing an opinion is insupportable,” he mentioned in a press release. “The refusal of the worldwide group to react decisively is a inexperienced mild for the Iranian authorities and all their like-minded folks world wide.”
It wasn’t instantly clear when Iran carried out its final execution for blasphemy. Different nations within the Center East, like Saudi Arabia, additionally permit for demise sentences to be imposed for blasphemy.
The streak of executions, together with members of ethnic minority teams in Iran, comes as monthslong protests over the September demise of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the nation’s morality police have cooled. Already, not less than 4 folks charged over alleged crimes from the demonstrations have been put to demise. The protests, which reportedly noticed over 500 folks killed and 19,000 others arrested, marked one of many largest challenges to Iran’s theocracy because the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Kleinbaum referred to as on the White Home to sentence the execution and additional sanction Iran, in addition to push for Russia and China to permit the United Nations Safety Council to refer Tehran to the Worldwide Prison Court docket.
“This stage of cruelty signifies that Iran’s authorities is determined to take care of energy via drive, and we condemn it,” she mentioned.
In 2022, Iran executed not less than 582 folks, up from 333 folks in 2021, in line with Iran Human Rights. Amnesty Worldwide’s most-recent report on executions put Iran because the world’s second-largest executioner, behind solely China, the place 1000’s are believed to be put to demise a 12 months.
Whereas some executions are publicized, others usually are not in Iran.
Many have been for drug-related offenses, however there even have been executions of a British-Iranian accused of spying and one other of a Swedish-Iranian convicted of masterminding a 2018 assault on a navy parade that killed not less than 25.
A German-Iranian who lives in California, Jamshid Sharmahd, additionally faces a looming execution as tensions stay excessive between Tehran and the West over its accelerating nuclear program. The European Union’s high diplomat, Josep Borrell, mentioned he spoke Monday with Iranian International Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian about Sharmahd and “requested Iran to not execute” him.
Human Rights Activists in Iran, one other group monitoring the Islamic Republic, warned final week in regards to the “alarming surge” in executions.
“Iranian authorities have an absolute obligation to uphold worldwide human rights requirements and as a substitute, there may be ongoing impunity for grave violations of the proper to life — and extra,” mentioned Skylar Thompson, the top of world advocacy and accountability on the group.
Comply with Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
