NCRI – The United Nations has condemned the mass execution of Sunni political prisoners that the Iranian regime carried out this week.
“UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Friday deplored the execution of 20 people in Iran this week,” said a statement on the High Commissioner’s website.
“Reports suggest that most if not all of those executed were from a minority group – Sunnis from the Kurdish community. In many of the cases, there were serious doubts about the fairness of the trials, respect for due process and other rights of the accused. One of the men who was hanged yesterday, Shahram Ahmadi, had allegedly been beaten and coerced into signing a blank piece of paper on which his false confession was recorded. His family members were unable to visit him before he was executed, and were reportedly directed to the cemetery instead of Rajai Shahr Prison west of Tehran,” said the statement.
“The application of overly broad and vague criminal charges, coupled with a disdain for the rights of the accused to due process and a fair trial have in these cases led to a grave injustice,” the High Commissioner said.
High Commissioner Zeid also condemned the execution last month of 19-year-old Hassan Afshar, who was 17 when he was arrested.
“The execution of juvenile offenders is particularly abhorrent and I urge Iran to respect the strict prohibition under international human rights law against this practice,” he said.
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.