{"id":2590,"date":"2014-01-23T00:39:56","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T22:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=2590"},"modified":"2014-01-23T00:39:56","modified_gmt":"2014-01-22T22:39:56","slug":"stop-the-executions-un-rights-experts-alarmed-at-the-sharp-increase-in-hangings-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2014\/01\/stop-the-executions-un-rights-experts-alarmed-at-the-sharp-increase-in-hangings-in-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cStop the executions\u201d \u2013 UN rights experts alarmed at the sharp increase in hangings in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"25-08-2011humanrights-logo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: UN OHCHR<\/a><\/p>\n

GENEVA (22 January 2014) \u2013 The United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, and on summary executions, Christof Heyns, today called on the Government of Iran to urgently halt the abrupt surge in hangings in the country since the start of 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are dismayed at the continued application of the death penalty with alarming frequency by the authorities, despite repeated calls for Iran to establish a moratorium on executions,\u201d the independent experts said, stressing \u201cthe inherently cruel, inhuman and degrading nature of the death penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least 40 persons have been reportedly hanged in the first two weeks of January, of which at least 33 executions were carried out in the past week alone. 625 executions, including at least 28 women and a number of political prisoners were reported to have been carried out in 2013.<\/p>\n

The majority of those executions were for drug-related offences, but a number of individuals were also executed for the crimes of Moharabeh (\u2018enmity against God\u2019), or acting against national security.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is deeply concerning that the Government proceeds with executions for crimes that do not meet the threshold of the \u2018most serious crimes\u2019 as required by international law, and when serious concerns remain about due process rights,\u201d the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to recall once again that, if the death penalty is to be used at all in the countries which have not yet abolished it, international law requires that it may be imposed only after proceedings that met the highest level of respect of fair trial and due process standards. The \u2018most serious crimes\u2019 provision further requires that it is imposed only for the offence of intentional killing,\u201d Mr. Heyns noted.<\/p>\n

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran also raised alarm at the recent pace of executions of political activists and individuals from ethnic minority groups, and urged the Government to stop the execution and to revisit the cases of people at risk of execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe persistent execution of individuals for exercising their rights to freedom of assembly, association, and affiliation to minority groups contravenes universally accepted human rights principles and norms,\u201d Mr. Shaheed said.<\/p>\n

The independent human rights expert noted that the Government had hanged 16 members of the Baloch community on 26 October 2013, in reprisal to the killings of 14 border guards the day before.<\/p>\n

\u201cExecution of individuals as a form of retaliation for another crime is an action unquestionably illegal under international human rights law,\u201d the experts said. \u201cThe Government of Iran has legal and moral obligations to respect the right to life, which is the most fundamental of all human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe once more urge the Government of Iran, as an active member of the international community, to heed the calls for a moratorium on executions, especially in cases relating to political activists and alleged drug-offences,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the meantime, we urge the Iranian authorities at least to restrict the use of the death penalty to what is permissible as an exception under international law, and namely to limit its imposition only for the crime of intentional killing, and to respect stringently international standards guaranteeing fair trial and due process for those facing the death penalty,\u201d the Special Rapporteurs stressed.<\/p>\n

The experts\u2019 appeal was also endorsed by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. M\u00e9ndez.<\/p>\n

Ahmed Shaheed (the Maldives) is a Visiting Professor at the Human Rights Centre, Essex University, UK; and a former foreign policy advisor to the President of the Maldives. Mr Shaheed was Foreign Minister of the Maldives from 2005 to 2007 and from 2008 to 2010. He led the country\u2019s efforts to sign and ratify the major international human rights Conventions and to implement them in law and practice. He was appointed as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran in June 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council. As Special Rapporteur, he is independent from any government or organization and serves in his individual capacity. Learn more, visit: http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/Countries\/AsiaRegion\/Pages\/IRIndex.aspx<\/p>\n

The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns (South Africa), is a director of the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa and Professor of Human Rights Law at the University of Pretoria, where he has also directed the Centre for Human Rights, and has engaged in wide-reaching initiatives on human rights in Africa. He has advised a number of international, regional and national entities on human rights issues. Mr. Heyns\u2019 research interests include international human rights law and human rights law in Africa. Learn more, log on to: http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/Issues\/Executions\/Pages\/SRExecutionsIndex.aspx<\/p>\n

Check the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/ProfessionalInterest\/Pages\/CCPR.aspx<\/p>\n

UN Human Rights, country page – Iran: http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/Countries\/AsiaRegion\/Pages\/IRIndex.aspx<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, and on summary executions, Christof Heyns, today called on the Government of Iran to urgently halt the abrupt surge in hangings in the country since the start of 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,90,47,85,43,58,7,65,88],"tags":[112,592,215,206],"class_list":["post-2590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-death-penalty-torture-and-other-inhuman-punishments","category-editor-selection","category-ethnic-issues-and-communities","category-human-rights","category-human-rights-online-library","category-international-and-intergovernmental-institutions","category-iran","category-others","category-slider","tag-death-penalty","tag-iran","tag-un-ohchr","tag-violation-of-human-rights","country-iran","Documents-international-instruments","Documents-conventions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2590"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2593,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2590\/revisions\/2593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}