
A Look at the Wave of Executions in Recent Months/ Milad Pour Eisi
“Violence and execution, the response of anger to inequality.”
According to the statistics from the Center for Human Rights Activists in Iran, in the month of Khordad of this year, ninety-seven prisoners have been executed across the country. Based on this report, only less than forty percent of these executions, which is at least thirty individuals, were executed for drug-related offenses. The rest of the executed citizens include fifty-six individuals, or fifty-two percent, who were charged with murder, and eleven others who were charged with rape, insurgency, or unspecified charges. (1)
The process of widespread executions continued in the month of Tir this year. According to the news agency “Hrana”, the news organization of human rights activists in Iran, on the 8th of Tir, the death sentence of ten other prisoners was carried out in Rajai Shahr prison, on charges of deliberate murder, “forcible sodomy”, and “rape by force”.
According to the statistics of the human rights activists in 2020, during the period of December 2019 to December 2020, fifty-one percent of the total two hundred and ninety-one citizens who were executed were charged with intentional murder. (3)
In the year 1399, eighty percent of the executed sentences were carried out, and since the middle of the previous year, seventy-one percent of those executed were charged with murder and hanged. During this time period, the next highest charges for executed citizens were forty percent for drug-related offenses, four percent for armed robbery, three percent for sexual offenses, and two percent for unknown charges.
This trend of the absolute majority of intentional murder cases being executed compared to drug-related charges among citizens was ongoing until the end of 1396 (2017-2018); while before 1396 (2017), and the implementation of the amendment to the law on combating drugs, it was completely reversed.
Rapid growth of inequality and alarming increase in violent crimes.
During this time, the increase in violence in society, along with the decrease in the number of executions related to drug crimes, has led to an increase in violent crimes, including intentional murder. As a result, the gap between the number of executions for this crime and drug crimes has also widened.
The income gap between citizens and the increasing distance between the wealthy and the less fortunate members of society during the 1990s has been one of the main reasons for the rise in violent crimes in the community.
According to statistics from the Iranian Statistical Center, the ratio of the top 10% earners to the bottom 10% earners from the total income, which is measured by the income distribution index, has consistently increased in the past decade and the income distribution has become more unequal than a decade ago. For example, this index was estimated to be around 13.96 in 2020. This means that in 2020, the income earned by the top 10% of the society was nearly 14 times more than the income earned by the bottom 10% of the society.
The Iranian Statistical Center has estimated this income gap between the poor and the rich for the previous year, which is the year 98. In the same year, the number of executions for intentional murder charges was one of the highest in the past decade.
Based on the statistics of the law enforcement forces, intentional homicide in the first half of 98 had a seven percent increase compared to the previous year. Among other crimes that are punishable by the Islamic Penal Code with the risk of capital punishment, armed robbery also faced a 28 percent increase compared to the previous year.
According to the recent report of the Statistical Center of Iran, in the last five years of the 1990s decade, from 1395 to 1400, the rate of theft in Iran has increased by more than four times. According to this report, the number of thefts in 1395 was approximately 343,425 cases and according to the announcement of the Deputy of Social Affairs and Crime Prevention of the Judiciary, in the past year, the number of thefts has reached about 1,400,000 cases.
According to the report from the Central Bank, the inflation rate in 1395 (2016-2017) was announced to be single-digit and 9%, and the Statistical Center of Iran reported the inflation rate for 1400 (2021-2022) to be 40.2%. In fact, in the span of five years, the inflation rate has increased by about 4.4 times and the rate of theft has also increased by about four times in this period. During the same period, the number of people seeking medical attention from the Legal Medicine Organization due to injuries from physical violence has almost doubled.
Solution: Denial and execution
Despite the upward trend in inflation during the 1990s and the significant increase in the income gap between the poor and the rich, which according to research has a direct correlation with the rise of violence in society, judicial and law enforcement authorities have constantly spoken about controlling the situation and the acceptability of crime statistics in society in recent years.
According to a study by the Law Enforcement Force in 1395 (2016-2017) titled “Explaining the Relationship between Violent Crimes (Theft, Assault, and Murder) with Emphasis on Inequality in Iran’s Social-Economic Development”, “inequality” was identified as the “most influential factor” in the rapid growth of violent crimes in Iranian provinces.
For example, take a look at Alborz province in this month’s execution statistics. This province, alongside Sistan and Baluchestan, has the highest number of executed citizens during this period. The law enforcement and judicial authorities themselves admit that the presence of three overcrowded prisons in this province and the imprisonment of a large number of criminals from all over the country in these three prisons have provided the grounds for a significant increase in violent crimes; crimes such as intentional murder, armed robbery, and rape, all of which carry the death penalty under Islamic law.
According to provincial authorities, there has been a significant increase in suburbanization in Alborz province, with families of prisoners from other provinces being forcibly relocated to suburban areas and citizens from southern and western regions of the country migrating due to environmental problems and the proximity of this province to the capital city.
Under the command of Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, in this province, instead of addressing social and economic issues, a “Special Crimes Prevention Headquarters” has been formed, whose mission is essentially to further violate human rights.
Hassan Maddi, the public and revolutionary prosecutor of Alborz province, announced last April that “legal pursuit” and “imposing the harshest punishment” or in other words, execution, alongside “strict enforcement of issued sentences” is among the special decisions of this court for criminals of “violent crimes accompanied by harassment”. He also reported on the restriction of “all affiliated institutions”, including furlough for suspects of violent crimes such as all repeat offenders.
Officials of the judicial and law enforcement departments of Alborz province, with this approach, occasionally claim a “significant reduction” in violent crimes in this province.
The news that has been spread from Sistan and Baluchestan, as one of the provinces with the highest number of executions in the month of Khordad, and incidentally one of the most underdeveloped areas of Iran, tells of the rushed issuance of several execution orders without any transparency in the judicial process in just a few days of this month.
Notes:
1- The wave of executions in Iran; a look at the statistics of the increase in the execution of prisoners in the month of Khordad 1401, news agency.
Harana
31 Khordad 1401.
2- Execution of 10 prisoners in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj city, news agency.
Harana
July 8th, 2022.
3- Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in Iran; Special for 2021, News Agency
Everywhere
January 26, 2022.
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