2011 executions in Iran

Based on Wikipedia: 2011 executions in Iran

On January 24, 2011, Iran executed two political prisoners—Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei—for allegedly taking photos and footage of the Iranian election protests and chanting slogans promoting the People's Mujahdeen of Iran, a banned opposition group. By that same date, the country had already executed 47 people since the New Year. Forty-seven bodies in just sixteen days. Roughly three people every day.

This was not an aberration. This was a pattern.

The Numbers

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, would later confirm that Iran had executed a total of 670 people in 2011—marking a staggering acceleration from the previous year. In 2010, the UN estimated roughly 300 executions had occurred in Iran. But by January 2011, the rate was already triple what it had been: approximately 18 to 25 people monthly in 2010, compared to an average of nearly three per day in early 2011.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran called it "an execution binge orchestrated by the intelligence and security agencies." By the end of January alone, at least 66 people had been executed—including three known political dissidents. The numbers only grew worse as the year progressed.

By July, Amnesty International warned that Iran was on course for a record year in executions. In just the first six months of 2011, Iran had executed 320 people—an average of almost two executions every day. Other human rights groups placed the count even higher.

By November, through the end of November 2011, Amnesty reported that 600 people had been executed in Iran. Of these, 488 were executed for alleged drug offenses. The organization warned of what it termed "a new wave of drug offense executions," noting that drug-related executions had tripled compared to 2009.

Public Spectacle

The executions were not merely numerical. They were spectacle.

By April 27, 2011, Amnesty International reported that as many as 13 people had been hanged in public—compared to 14 for all of 2010. These were the first executions of juvenile offenders in the world for the 2011 calendar year.

The Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gør Støre condemned Iran's escalation in public executions, stating: "The increased number of public executions using brutal methods such as suffocation by being hoisted up by a crane are particularly grotesque and not worthy of a modern society."

Norwegian research documented 15 public executions in 2011, compared to 19 in 2010. The methods were deliberate and horrifying—executions carried out by suspending prisoners from cranes, the kind of machinery that transformed industrial construction into instruments of state killing.

An Amnesty International official said: "It is deeply disturbing that despite a moratorium on public executions ordered in 2008, the Iranian authorities are once again seeking to intimidate people by such spectacles which not only dehumanize the victim, but brutalizes those who witness it."

The Drug Connection

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, blasted the West for condemning Iran's executions. He offered a justification: 80 percent of those hanged were drug smugglers. "If Iran does not combat drugs," he said, "Europe and the West will be hurt."

In May 2011, Mohammad Javad Larijani, head of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, threatened to allow the transit of illegal drugs through Iranian territory to Europe if the West continued to criticize the Iranian government for its practice of executing drug traffickers. Larijani stated that ceasing the practice would reduce the overall number of executions in Iran by 74 percent—but "the way will be paved for the smuggling of narcotics to Europe."

By December, Amnesty reported that through the end of November, 488 people had been executed for alleged drug offenses—a threefold increase from 2009. Afghan nationals were particularly at risk, with as many as 4,000 Afghans on death row in Iran.

Political Context

Iranian opposition leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi, along with commentators, asserted that the Iranian regime had stepped up executions to intimidate and silence the Iranian opposition—specifically those who might take to the streets like in the 2009–2010 Iranian election protests.

The timing was suggestive. The execution of Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei on January 24 specifically targeted individuals associated with documenting dissent—and particularly, the People's Mujahdeen of Iran (PMOI), a banned opposition group.

Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated: "We have urged Iran, time and time again, to halt executions... I am very dismayed that instead of heeding our calls, the Iranian authorities appear to have stepped up the use of the death penalty... I call upon Iran to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty."

The Crane Campaign

In response to Iran's use of public executions via cranes, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) launched its "Cranes Campaign" in March 2011. The goal: pressuring crane manufacturers worldwide to end their business in Iran—preventing the use of their equipment for violent ends.

The campaign succeeded. Through its efforts, UANI pressured Terex (U.S.), Tadano (Japan), Liebherr, UNIC (Japan), and Konecranes (Finland) to end their business in Iran. Tadano and UNIC, both of Japan, ended their Iran sales after UANI presented graphic photographic evidence of their cranes being used in public executions.

Secret Prisons

An interim report on human rights in Iran released in October 2011 by Ahmed Shaheed—the newly appointed UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran—revealed that secret executions had been taking place in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, eastern Iran. According to Shaheed, Iranian authorities conducted 300 secret executions in Vakilabad in 2010, and another 146 executions as of the report's publication date in 2011.

A Record Year

By every measure—public, private, political, drug-related—Iran's execution rate in 2011 was unprecedented. Amnesty International warned that the country was on course for a record year in executions. The UN confirmed 670 people put to death. Human rights organizations placed the number far higher.

The international community protested. Iran shrugged. And the executionspaced continues, each day adding to the count of those killed—a grim arithmetic that shows no sign of slowing.