December 5: Four Ahwazi Arab political prisoners have been executed, according to reports received by Iran Human Rights (IHR). The executions are also reported by BBC Persian and several other sources.

Ghazi Abbasi, Abdul-Reza Amir-Khanafereh , Abdul-Amir Mojaddami and Jasim Moghaddam Payam were sentenced to death by Branch 1 of the Ahwaz revolutionary court on August 15, 2012. They were convicted of “enmity with God”, which is a common charge made against critics of the government. The death sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court in February, although it is believed that the lawyer representing Abdul-Reza Amir-Khanafereh was still in the process of appealing against the conviction before the executions.

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group has voiced concerns over the authorities’ failure to investigate allegations of torture used against the four prisoners in order to extract “confessions” and secure convictions.

The Iranian authorities took the four Ahwazi prisoners from Karoun prison on 3 November and held incommunicado by the Ministry of Intelligence without access to lawyers or family members.

IHR spokesperson Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “The international community should conduct an immediate investigation into the imprisonment, conviction and execution of the four men. There is a worrying trend in human rights abuse with a surge in executions since President Hassan Rouhani took office in August. The world must now focus on human rights, particularly executions, following the break-through on nuclear talks in Geneva.”

While the P5+1 talks were taking place in Geneva from mid-October, IHR has catalogued the execution of more than 90 Iranian prisoners.

Iran Human Rights