HRANA News Agency – Since October 11, 2012 until October 10, 2013 there have been 537 prisoners hanged in Iran which is 9% more than the last year. The death penalties are issued and enforced in a case that the prisoners do not have access to just trial process in Iran.
In this report, we will take a look at the annual execution rate and compare it with the last year. Meanwhile we will try to predict the execution rate of the next year on the basis of statistics since.
Also we will take a look at the most executions in a day, the most public executions and the most controversial execution during the last year.
The main source of this report is the interviews of judicial authorities with the governmental medias and a part of it includes the reports if HRANA reporters and other independent and reliable sources.
The most controversial execution
The most controversial execution was the one which was issued by the direct interrupt of Amoli Larijani, the head of Iranian judiciary for 2 prisoners identified as Ali Reza Mafiha and Mohammad Ali Sarvari and was enforced in the morning of January 20. Amoli Larijani had told: “There is no difference between using stabbings and firearms and all are considered as declaring war on the God and the penalty is death.”
The whole trial process took only 20 days and the film of the rubbery of these two prisoners was broadcasted in the cyber space to show the power of the police and judicial system in fighting such crimes. They were hanged in the Artists Park in Tehran which is considered as a cultural location and was criticized by the art community.
The most controversial execution location
On January 16 at 7 o’clock in the morning the prisoner identified as Elyas who was 23 years old was hanged in public in Mazhari stadium of Sabzevar on charge of rape. There were no gender or age limits for the people to enter the stadium and watch the execution.
Following this execution, FIFA sent a letter to the head of Iranian football federation and complainded about it.
The highest number of execution in a day
The highest number of executions was enforced during August 22 when 27 prisoners were hanged in Tabriz, Hendijan, Ardebil, Uremia, Arak and Mashhad.
The highest number of execution in a province
The highest number of executions belongs to Alborz province which is because of Ghezel Hesar, Rajai Shahr and Karaj prisons being located there. There have been 93 executions in Alborz, 42 in Tehran and 38 in Fars and West Azerbaijan provinces.
The highest number of public executions
The highest number of public executions belongs to Fars province in which there have been 8 public executions during which 23 prisoners were hanged.
The highest number of execution in a prison
The Rajai Shahr prison of Karaj has the highest number of executions. There have been 47 prisoners hanged there. Also there have been 40 prisoners hanged in Uremia central prison and 37 in Ghezel Hesar prison.
The most common charges
62% of the executions were on charge of drug trafficking, 13% on charge of murder and 11% on charge of rape.
Execution sentences for juveniles
The execution of a juvenile in Ahwaz Karoun prison who was charged with committing murder when he was 14 years old was one of the controversial ones. Also another juvenile who was charged with committing murder when he was 17 has been sentenced to death by the branch 74 of Tehran penal court. Another one identified as Bahaoddin Ghasem Zadeh who was charged with committing murder when he was 16 years old received the death verdict confirmed by the branch 6 of the Supreme Court at October 10.
The best position to limit the death penalties
The Canadian parliament passed a bill recognizing the mass executions of the summer 1988 as the crime against humanity. This was the first reaction of a parliament toward the executions of 80s in Iran recognizing it as a crime against humanity.
The most important international action to limit the death penalties
The Danish government decision to reduce their financial aids to UNODC which is the main source of the Iranian government to fight against drug trafficking was one of the most important international actions to punish the Iranian government because of issuing mass execution verdicts on drug relating charges.
The best media program
“Mahe-E-Asal” is program being broadcasted by IRIB 3 which is one of the few programs to encourage the families to forgive the murderers of their loved ones. This program invited a family who had forgiven the murderer of their child on July 30, 2013.
The number of issued death sentences
During last year there have been 106 prisoners hanged in different cities on the charges which are not related to drug trafficking. Needed to be mentioned that the judicial process of the drug relating cases are never published which has always been an area of protest by the human rights activists and organizations.
The number of enforced death sentences
During the last year 537 prisoners have been hanged. 12% of these executions which is equal to 67 of them have been done in public.
Most of these executions are enforced with no clear judicial process. The gender of 61% of the victims is not clear and there are only 19 women and 189 men being known yet. Meanwhile the identity of 60% of the executed prisoners is not known and in some cases which were done in public the identity gets known.
Also 40% (213 prisoners) of the executions were done hidden and the judicial authorities announced neither the case details nor the execution of these prisoners.
Comparison with the last year
Since October 11, 2011 to October 10, 2012 there have been 488 prisoners executed which shows an increase of 9% in the execution rate.
Also we have had an increase of 14% in public executions which is unprecedented. As we already mentioned the Fars province had the highest rate of public executions.
Predicting the statistics of the next one year
On the basis of 57% C.V. counted according to the statistics of the last 12 months there will be at least 24 and at most 88 executions next November. Also this range will be between 13 and 47 for December, 22 and 80 for January, 17 and 63 for February, 20 and 72 for March, 21 and 79 for May, 14 and 50 for June, 40 and 144 for July, 3 and 9 for August, 25 and 93 for September and 32 and 118 for October, 2014.
