NCRI – Germany’s foreign ministry has condemned the mass execution of Sunni political prisoners earlier this week and the hanging of a juvenile offender last month in Iran.
In a statement on Friday, August 5, Bärbel Kofler, Federal Government Human Rights Commissioner at the Federal Foreign Office, said: “I am deeply shocked that, as has transpired only now, Iran executed the young Iranian Hassan Afshar on 18 July.”
“Hassan Afshar was only 17 years old at the time of the crime he is accused of having committed. His execution is therefore a totally unacceptable violation of international law, especially since there are considerable doubts as to whether rule‑of‑law principles were complied with at his trial.”
“Not only the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but also the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – both of which Iran has ratified – prohibit the execution of individuals who were minors at the time of the offence.”
“The German Government is opposed to the death penalty whatever the circumstances. Especially in view of the shocking reports of the recent execution of twenty men in the region of Alborz, I strongly urge all political leaders in Iran to suspend further executions with immediate effect and to refrain entirely from the imposition of death sentences against minors,” Kofler added.
On Tuesday, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, described the mass execution of Sunni prisoners, carried out on the anniversary of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, an appalling crime against humanity. The regime is trying in vain to contain the volatile social atmosphere and popular protests by terrorizing the public, she said.
The time has come for the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Security Council to end their silence and bring the record of the Iranian regime’s crimes before the International Criminal Court. Ali Khamenei and other leaders of the regime as well as direct perpetrators of these crimes must be brought to justice, Maryam Rajavi reiterated.
