It is the arbitrariness that causes fear. Even in the Islamic Republic, it happens that the Supreme Court listens to objections and suspends a verdict, sometimes avoiding execution. Then there are cases in which someone can hope for a pardon or at least for the verdict to be reviewed.
And then he dies anyway. Is killed by the henchmen of a regime that often no longer even listens to its own justice system.
This is what happened to Mohammad Ghobadlou, a young man who suffered from bipolar disorder. Several doctors confirmed the illness; the Supreme Court judges wanted to review the verdict. In January of this year, a judge who became known in the country for his many death sentences prevailed: Abolqasem Salavati. He judges at one of the Islamic revolutionary courts.
Everyone should know: If you protest, you risk your life
One night, Ghobadlou’s family stood outside the prison where he was being held and pleaded for his life. Salavati had the 24-year-old hanged anyway – a violation of the rules of the Iranian state, which describes itself as a constitutional state. Ghobadlou died on January 23rd, he was the ninth person sentenced to death and executed in direct connection with the Mahsa Amini protests in autumn 2022.
The first prominent victim was the rapper Mohsen Shekari, 23 years old. The justice system killed him after a summary trial on December 8, 2022. People were still on the streets. The execution should show everyone what they risk if they dare to protest. Judge Salavati also passed the verdict against Shekari. Since then, his colleagues have followed his example – especially because the regime now finally knows that its power is based solely on violence.
The report on the death penalty in Iran, which the human rights organizations “Iran Human Rights” and “Together Against the Death Penalty” presented last week, tells of this violence. The front page shows a secretly taken cell phone photo: two young men, blindfolded, hanging from the arms of two construction machines. It’s dark, masked police officers are standing around. The picture was taken on July 8, 2023 in the Iranian city of Shiraz.
The two killed are Mohammad Ramez Rashidi and Naeim Hashem Ghotali. They came from Afghanistan and are among the people the Islamic Republic publicly executed last year.
The latest figures are a cruel record
There is also arbitrariness in this. The regime carries out few executions in public, but they occur frequently. Most of the world only finds out about the other victims because organizations like Iran Human Rights report on them. The group works from Norway and when it counts the dead, it makes no claim to completeness, which is why the numbers are always preceded by the word “at least.”
According to the report, the Iranian regime executed at least 834 people in 2023. Compared to the population (estimated at almost 88 million inhabitants), this is a cruel record. Nowhere in the world is the execution rate as high as in Iran. “Spreading fear is the regime’s only means of staying in power,” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights. The executions are “the most important instrument”.
The number of victims varies slightly. The opposition People’s Mujahideen also document state killings in Iran. They counted 864 in 2023. Their numbers, like those of Iran Human Rights, show a significant increase, especially since the protests. In 2023, the regime killed over a third more people than in the previous year. In 2022, significantly more persecuted people were executed than before. The victims are mainly members of minorities such as the Baluchis. They make up five percent of the population and, according to the People’s Mujahideen, 22 percent of those executed. According to the opposition, the regime also had several minors killed, i.e. people under the age of 18. In Iran, boys are of criminal responsibility from the age of 15 and girls from the age of nine.
Many verdicts were handed down before the Revolutionary Courts, which produce judges like Abolqasem Salavati. They are responsible for offenses against the Islamic Republic, i.e. against the clerical regime as such. Participation in a demonstration quickly becomes a “crime against God,” punishable by death. The revolutionary courts also hear alleged drug cases, in which they often sentence people to death, often on the basis of blackmailed confessions.
When the Iranian judiciary executed a political prisoner, a Kurd, a few weeks ago, his fellow prisoners turned to the public. In their letter they refer to the war in Gaza. Since October 7th, the number of executions has increased even further, and the regime is increasing the pressure internally. “Please do not allow,” the letter says, that the war “paves the way for state murder of fellow human beings.”