Newark, Delaware (Special to Informed Comment) – Under the previous Iranian Penal Code or IPC, which was in force until 2013, the charge of mohareb, “Waging War (on Islam,” was frequently used against political dissidents and people with connections to opposition groups abroad, even if they were non-violent. The new Penal Code has provided for their punishment […]
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Death Penalty
Iran Charges 16, Including Several Teens, For Protests Amid Reports Of Forced Confessions
By Ardeshir Tayebi | – ( RFE/RL ) – Iran has charged 16 people, including several teenagers, in the northwestern Iranian city of Urmia for planning demonstrations and accusing them of espionage amid reports those detained gave confessions after being beaten. In November, 25 people were arrested for allegedly having connections with “spy organizations” and […]
Dual Iranian-British national Alireza Akbari’s execution plunges Iranian Relations with the West to a new Low
Oxford (Special to Informed Comment) – On Saturday 14 January, the Iranian regime executed a 61-year old dual Iranian-British national and a former deputy defence minister, Alireza Akbari. The 15th branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, presided over by Abolqasem Salavati who had been the judge of numerous controversial cases and who has been sanctioned […]
Iran’s Executions Of Protesters Triggers Public Outrage, Draws Criticism From Clerics
By Hannah Kaviani I’m Hannah Kaviani, a senior broadcaster and editor at RFE/RL’s Radio Farda. Here’s what I’ve been following and what I’m watching out for in the days ahead. ( RFE/ RL ) – Iran has publicly executed two young men over their involvement in the ongoing antiestablishment protests that have rocked the country […]
Iran: Two Protesters Executed in Grossly Unfair Trials, Several More in Danger (HRW)
Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Iranian authorities’ execution of two men in connection with widespread antigovernment protests is a gross miscarriage of justice and a dangerous escalation, Human Rights Watch said today. According to human rights groups, revolutionary courts of first instance have issued at least 11 other protest-related death sentences and are expected […]
Musk’s Twitter won’t Label as False the Whopper that Iran has Sentenced 15,000 Protesters to Die (It is so far 2)
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Maria Ramirez Uribe at Politifact explains that a wildly inaccurate Instagram post alleging that Iran’s parliament had sentenced 15,000 arrested demonstrators to death went viral. The allegation of 15,000 on death row was shared by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other prominent figures and then went viral on Twitter. […]
From the College Debt Crisis to Poor Health Insurance, America’s Pathologies are Rooted in the Right Wing Crackdown of WW I and After
By Adam Hochschild | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Donald Trump has had the urge to crush many things, including the last election. So I must admit I found it eerily amusing that, when the FBI entered his estate at Mar-a-Lago recently, they did so under a warrant authorized by the Espionage Act of 1917. […]
Why Is Iran Executing So Many Prisoners?
By Giovana Faria | – ( RFE/RL ) – With a long list of crimes punishable by death, Iran put at least 314 prisoners to death last year, second only to China, which recorded more than 1,000 executions. The Iran Human Rights organization actually puts the figure at 333. That’s up from 267 executions in […]
The Human Rights Price of Biden’s Visit to Jeddah
Biden Should Keep Promise on Rights, Call for Release of Activists and Rights Defenders