Sat 07 September 2019:
Iran continued its high rate of executions in August in line with its long-term record for human rights abuses.
Official figures released by the Islamic Republic acknowledge 13 executions for the last month, while human rights monitors reported an additional 25 cases, including the public hanging of a man accused of murdering a leading religious figure on August 28.
A Norway-based Iranian human rights organization, Iran Human Rights (IHR), reported that 38 people were executed in Iran in August, double the rate in the same period last year.
IHR said that based on information it collected, 32 of those executed were convicted of first-degree murder, while six were hanged for major narcotics and drug trafficking convictions.
The recent killings are in continuation with Iran’s history of executions. British newspaper The Daily Express recently reported victim accounts of the 1988 Iranian massacre.
In 1988, then-Iranian Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa that ordered the killings of political prisoners in Iran. It is now estimated that over 30,000 prisoners were murdered.
Though tribunals for the 1988 massacre were held in London and The Hague, the Iranians accused of these crimes never stood trial. Despite holding no judicial power, the tribunals were significant for publicizing the testimony of witnesses.
Current Iranian Justice Minister Alireza Avai was involved in the massacre of political prisoners in Khuzestan Province in 1988. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani appointed Avai as minister of justice in 2007.
Iran has continued its poor human rights record to the present day.
According to Amnesty International, Iran executed 253 people in 2018 and 507 in 2017. The minimum age for execution is 15, and Iran recently executed two 17-year-olds on April 25, 2019.
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