Relatives Of Prisoners Facing Death Penalty Protest In Front Of Iran's Judiciary

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda September 12, 2022

Several families of prisoners who have been handed death sentences have protested in front of the Islamic Republic Judiciary building, in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

In videos posted on social media, police officers can be seen trying to disperse the protesters, identified as relatives of those on death row, arresting some of them.

The demonstration on September 11 is the fifth day since the beginning of protests by the families of those sentenced to death in Iran's prisons, which began on September 6 in front of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Karaj, near Tehran.

According to the Iran Human Rights Society, at least 18 prisoners sentenced to death have been transferred to solitary confinement from the Karaj, Minab, and Gohardasht central prisons to different parts of Iran.

Many protest rallies have been held in Iran in recent years, but a rally to oppose the death sentence is a rare act of defiance.

As of September 12, at least 410 executions had been recorded in Iran this year, according to the Iran Human Rights Organization.

Some human rights sources, including the Human Rights Activists News Agency, say that more than 85 percent of executions in Iran are carried out "in secret and without official and public information."

The rise in the number of executions began in September 2021 after Ebrahim Raisi, a former head of the judiciary, became president and former Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei took over the judiciary.

Activists say that Iran is in the throes of a major crackdown as protests continue over living conditions in a severe economic crisis.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-death-penalry-protests- judiciary/32030223.html

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