Thousands gathered in Tehran on August 2 to watch the first public executions in the city in five years. The crowd cheered as Majid Kavousifar, 28, and his nephew, Hossein Kavousifar, 24, were executed. They were convicted for killing a hard line judge, Hassan Moghaddas, in front of his office two years ago.
A day earlier, Iran executed nine convicts. In the city of Mashad, Iran publicly executed seven men convicted of rape. In a prison in Zahedan two additional men were executed. In the previous week, twelve other convicts were executed in Evin Prison in Tehran. The August 1 executions brought the year’s total to 143. In 2006, Iran executed 177, which doubled the number executed in 2005.
According to Iranian officials, the individuals executed were convicted of crimes such as rape, criminal acts, kidnapping, and drug related crimes. The number of executions has increased during recent weeks, since a crackdown on “thugs” was announced in May.
Also, two Kurdish reporters were sentenced to death in late July. Reporters Without Borders stated that Adnan Hassanpour and Hiva Boutimar were sentenced to death by a revolutionary tribunal in Marivan on July 16. Hassanpour was found guilty of “activities subverting national security.” He wrote for the banned Asou magazine, reporting on the sensitive Kurdish issue. Boutimar also wrote for the same magazine, but the charges he was convicted of are not known.
In addition to this recent crackdown on “thugs”, the groups that have been facing the most harassment have been reporters, students and activists. For instance, journalist and human rights activist, Emadedin Baghi, was sentenced to prison for three years on July 31 on charges of acting against national security. And his wife and daughter received three years suspended sentence for attending a human rights conference in the United Arab Emirates. In addition, young women are targeted for wearing non-traditional clothing and young men are arrested for having western-style haircuts.
For more information please see:
London Times: “Thousands flock to see first public hangings in five years” 3 August 2007.
BCC: “Iran executes nine more criminals” 1 August 2007.
International Herald Tribune: “Iran hangs 9 convicts, 7 publicly, in crackdown on ‘thugs’” 1 August 2007.
BBC: “Death verdicts for Iran reporters” 31 July 2007.
Reporters Without Borders: “Two Kurdish journalists sentenced to death” 23 July 2007.
