At least 90 protesters detained in Iran face execution or life-threatening charges, CBC News has learned
This month, a list was shared with CBC News from within Iran of the names of protesters facing execution by the regime authorities.
After consulting with many activists and by accessing reports from various human rights groups, CBC News was able to name 90 individuals detained in Iran as high risk.
According to the information available, at least 19 people have been sentenced to death, 65 people may face the death penalty and 6 people have been sentenced to long-term and uncertain prison sentences.
The vast majority of these individuals are accused by the regime of “waging war against God” and “corruption on earth” – crimes punishable by death under the Islamic Republic’s sharia law.
Protests in Iran broke out in September after a young Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini died while in police custody. The 22-year-old was arrested by the regime’s so-called ethics police, accused of not wearing a headscarf properly, part of the regime’s strict Muslim dress code. Her family said she was beaten to death.
Activists shine the spotlight on detained protesters
Human rights activists told CBC News it was necessary to identify and make public the name of detained protesters is urgent.
They say the attention and public pressure on the authorities in Iran will help save the lives of many voiceless people.
Across Europe, dozens of politicians have funded most of the names listed.
Many parliamentarians and senators in countries such as Germany, Austria and France are exaggerating stories about those who have been detained and are lobbying the Iranian ambassadors to release them.
More than 18,000 people have so far been detained by the Islamic Republic since the start of protests against the regime in September, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). Of those, 506 people were killed — including 69 children and adolescents — as of December 21, 2022.
In less than a month, Iranian authorities arrested, charged and executed two executions of Mohsen Shekari and Majid Reza Rahnavard.
Treatment of anonymous prisoners
Iranian-Canadian activist Golsa Golestaneh, who focuses on fact-checking and propaganda, said the two men were “executed in silence” because the regime can often “distort the truth”. by amplifying the accusations and false convictions of incarcerated prisoners.
Golestaneh is the spokesman for an advocacy group called Waves (امواج), which includes young Iranians inside and outside Iran who want a voice in political opposition to the regime.
“It is extremely important to continue to emphasize the unpredictability of the Islamic regime while also recognizing the importance of accuracy, to the extent possible, to minimize the likelihood of a murder. another silent.”
When it comes to the treatment of unidentified prisoners in Iran, Masoud Kazemi, a journalist in Turkey, said that the regime has a “dark history and terrible record.”
“The unidentified detained protesters suffered more torture and suffering than others,” Kazemi said. “And they also get longer prison sentences and sometimes even the death penalty.”
Activists warn that executions are just one of the ways the regime kills prisoners. Golestaneh said that even if prisoners in Iran do not face executions, their lives are still at stake.
“The torture is very serious and some people have been killed in that way. Some people have committed suicide or their families have been forced to say they committed suicide in prison,” she said.
Kurdish human rights activist Soran Mansournia, who works in identifying prisoners and those killed by the regime, is calling on families to come forward and release the names of their loved ones.
“In the past two months, at least seven people from the Kurds in Iran have died under torture by the security forces of the Islamic Republic,” Mansournia said.
“Many prisoners’ lives are in danger and we don’t even know their names. I ask all their families to make their loved one’s abduction public.”
