Capital punishment in Iran
[2] The list of crimes punishable by death includes murder; rape; child molestation; homosexuality; drug trafficking; armed robbery; kidnapping; terrorism; burglary; incest; fornication; adultery; sodomy; sexual misconduct; prostitution;[3][4] plotting to overthrow the Islamic government; political dissidence; sabotage; arson; rebellion; apostasy; blasphemy; extortion; counterfeiting; smuggling; recidivist consumption of alcohol; producing or preparing food, drink, cosmetics, or sanitary items that lead to death when consumed or used; producing and publishing pornography; using pornographic materials to solicit sex; capital perjury; recidivist theft; certain military offences (e. g., cowardice, assisting the enemy); "waging war against God"; "spreading corruption on Earth"; espionage; and treason.
[11][10] Despite international requests for his release, the Iranian government executed a British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari in January 2023, who once served as Iran's deputy defense minister.
The execution was condemned by the UK and Prime minister Rishi Sunak, who referred to it as politically motivated and a "callous and cowardly act" carried out by a "barbaric regime.
[16] Death sentences in Iran are, in theory, legal for a variety of crimes, such as armed robbery, treason, espionage, murder, certain military offenses, drug trafficking, rape, homosexuality, sodomy,[17] sexual misconduct, incestuous relations, fornication, prostitution,[3][4] plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime, political dissidence, sabotage, apostasy, blasphemy, adultery, producing and publishing pornography,[5][18][19][20] burglary, recidivist consumption of alcohol, recidivist theft, rebellion, some economic crimes, kidnapping, terrorism and few others.
This change was made because the regular appeals courts were overloaded and could not carry out their work quickly due to a heavy volume of drug cases.
A person operating a blog, website, or any type of internet application that is deemed to spread "corruption", "insulting of Islam", "terrorism/violence", or "treason" may be punishable by death.
Large scale fraud or counterfeiting if enough to disrupt the "financial stability of the Islamic Republic", or "intentionally aimed at undermining the government" is punishable by death or life in prison if at the level of "mofsed-fel-arz".
[28] In 2015, according to Iran's vice-president for women and family affairs, Shahindokht Molaverdi, in an unnamed village in Sistan and Baluchistan every adult male was executed on drugs charges.
[41] Apostasy (murrtaad) is not codified in the penal code, but is nevertheless subject to prosecution by Iranian courts, due to the primary role of Sharia in the legal system.
[44] In 2006, a teenage girl of the age of 16, Atefah Sahaaleh, was sentenced to death, and executed two weeks later by hanging in a public square for the charges of adultery and "crimes against chastity".
Famous hangings in Iran include Sheikh Fazlollah Nouri in 1908, and serial killer Mohammed Bijeh, the "Desert Vampire", who raped and murdered 17 boys, in 2005.
In 2006, a teenage girl of the age of 16, Atefah Sahaaleh, was sentenced to death, and executed two weeks later by hanging in a public square for the charges of adultery and "crimes against chastity".
In 1974, under the Shah's regime, Marxist activists Khosrow Golesorkhi and Keramat Daneshian were executed by firing squad on charges of conspiring to kidnap Reza Pahlavi, the Crown Prince of Iran.
During the 38 years in which the Shah reigned, 1,000[citation needed] or more people were sentenced to death for crimes against the government, mostly by firing squad after conviction by a special SAVAK military tribunal.
One of the most famous "hanging" judges in Iran was a cleric, Sadegh Khalkhali, the first head of the Revolutionary Court, who sentenced drug traffickers and former members of the Shah's government alike to be shot.
In 1980, Jahangir Razmi won the Pulitzer Prize for his famous photo "Firing Squad in Iran", which showed seven Kurds and two Shah's policemen being executed minutes after being convicted for "terrorism and crimes against God" by Khalkhali in the airport in Sanandaj, during a revolt by Kurdish armed groups.
[79] According to Amnesty International in 2008, Tayyeb Karimi and Yazdan were convicted of abduction, rape and theft and sentenced to death by a judge in Shiraz, Fars province, southern Iran, in May 2007.
[85] On 2 August 2007, Maijid and Hossein Kavousifar were hanged in downtown Tehran for murdering a judge, as well as shooting and killing two innocent bystanders during an earlier bank robbery.
Human Rights Watch, while not agreeing with the brutality of the hangings, stated it was "deeply disturbed about the apparent indifference of many people to the alleged rape of a 13-year-old".
Later that year, another two young men, referred to in the media by their first names, Mokhtar and Ali, were hanged in the northern city of Gorgan for lavat (sodomy).
[91] In 2010, Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad-Reza Ali Zamani were hanged in Tehran for moharebeh, alleged terrorism, and being a member of the banned Kingdom Assembly of Iran.
[92][93] On 3 May 2016, Reza Hosseini, 34, was executed in Ghezel Hesar prison on alleged drug charges after a revolutionary court trial that lasted a couple of minutes.
"[94][95] On 20 December 2018, Human Rights Watch urged the regime in Iran to investigate and find an explanation for the death of Vahid Sayadi Nasiri, who had been jailed for insulting the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
"[98][99] On 5 September 2022, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported that the two women, LGBT rights activists Zahra Seddiqi Hamedani and Elham Choubdar, had been sentenced to death on charges of "corruption on earth" and human trafficking.
[101] On 12 December 2022, Majidreza Rahnavard, aged 23 was publicly hanged in Mashhad for Moharebeh in connection to killing two members of the Basij Resistance Force, Danial Rezazadeh, and Hossein Zeinalzadeh, during the Mahsa Amini protests.
[102] Human rights organizations such as the United Nations have expressed distress and concern that protesters are being sentenced to death following sham trials with no due process.
On Wednesday, 14 December 2022, Iran's expulsion from the UN Commission on the Status of Women will be put to a vote, which the UN Watch predicts will pass overwhelmingly despite Tehran's objections.
On 17 November, the judiciary claimed Rahnavard committed a "terrorist" act, and two days later, he was reportedly arrested for "Moharebeh," the Farsi definition for "waging war against God.
[107] Furthermore, the acceleration of this specific use of the death penalty proves it to be a dictatorship that is the most uncompromising and extreme element, all under the leadership of supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
The young man was transferred to Rajaei Shahr prison in the city of Karaj, which is in the west of the capital of Tehran, which ended up being the place where his tragic execution occurred for being a human rights activist.
