Iran hanged 4 members of the Kurdish minority on Monday on fees of spying for Israel. In doing so, they defied a marketing campaign to spare their lives by rights teams who had described their trial as grossly unfair.
The 4 males have been executed at daybreak after being convicted of collaborating with Israel on a plan to sabotage an Iranian protection heart within the central province of Isfahan, based on the judiciary's Mizan On-line web site.
It accused them of being “members of a bunch linked to the Zionist spy group,” an obvious reference to Israel's Mossad intelligence service. There was no reference to their Kurdish ethnicity, which is highlighted by a number of rights teams.
There have been already alarms that the lives of the 4, all beneath the age of 30, have been in peril after relations have been summoned on Sunday for a last assembly with them earlier than they have been hanged at Ghezel Hesar jail in Tehran's satellite tv for pc metropolis of Karaj.
Their hangings come as issues develop over a wave of executions in Iran, the place activists say a mean of two folks have been executed a day to this point this month.
Amnesty Worldwide had stated the 4 males, whom it described as “Iranian Kurdish dissidents”, had been sentenced to dying “after a extremely unfair secret trial”.
It described their arrests in July 2022 as an “enforced disappearance” and in addition stated that they had been subjected to creating “confessions” on Iranian tv, a tactic typically utilized by authorities that activists concern is being coerced obtained.
– 'Forgive nor overlook' –
“The execution of those 4 prisoners was based mostly on confessions beneath torture and and not using a truthful trial, and is taken into account an extrajudicial killing,” stated Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group.
No less than 65 folks have been executed in Iran to this point this yr, based on IHR figures.
The spouse of Mohsen Mazloum, one of many executed males, lashed out on the choice in a put up on X, previously Twitter.
“I can’t forgive or overlook at this time! I’ve nothing else to say,” wrote Joanna Taimasi.
Taimasi, who now lives exterior Iran, has campaigned in current days to spare the lives of the 4 on social media and thru appearances on Persian-language TV channels.
Kurdish-focused rights group Hengaw stated the 4, aged between 26 and 28 and all from Kurdish-populated areas in western Iran, “have been disadvantaged of their fundamental rights to authorized illustration, visits and even communication with their households” .
“Even by the requirements of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the minimal necessities for a good trial weren’t met of their case,” the report stated.
– Tensions excessive –
The spike in executions final week additionally noticed Mohammad Ghobadlou, 23, hanged. He was the ninth man executed in reference to the nationwide protests that swept Iran from September 2022.
Iranian authorities had stated the 4 males executed Monday have been recruited by Mossad “a few yr and a half earlier than the operation.”
They have been despatched to African nations for “coaching programs within the army facilities” the place Mossad officers have been current, the judiciary added.
The lads have been sentenced to dying in September 2023.
In August 2023, Iran claimed to have foiled a “very complicated” Mossad-initiated mission to “sabotage” its ballistic missile trade.
In February of that yr, Tehran accused Israel of being liable for a drone assault on a army website in Isfahan.
The 2 nations have been embroiled in a shadow warfare for many years, with Iran often accusing Israel and its ally the US of inciting unrest.
Tensions are additionally excessive throughout the warfare in Gaza, sparked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas' assault on Israel on October 7. Iran on Monday denied any hyperlink to a drone strike in Jordan that killed three American troopers.
