Prior to their executions, all international organisations, including the UN Special Rapporteurs and Amnesty International, had condemned the death sentences handed to these two political prisoners, who were alleged members of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation (MeK) and had called for their immediate cancellation.

CODIR is URGENTLY calling for an effective international campaign to exert pressure on the Islamic Republic regime to stop the current alarming wave of executions in Iran and spare all those whose sentences are at imminent risk of being carried out.

According to confirmed reports, at least 56 prisoners in various prisons across the country have been sentenced to death – with the sentences for at least 22 of them having been issued by judicial authorities in Tehran.

Many of these prisoners who have been sentenced to death on political or security charges, were deprived of the right to anything resembling due process let alone a fair trial and have had very limited, if any, access to legal counsel. This has compounded an utter lack of transparency in the judicial proceedings, much of which take place behind closed doors and involve shadowy figures from the regime’s notorious intelligence agencies. Some prisoners were denied access to a lawyer of their choice able to properly deal with the charges being faced and even in cases where a lawyer was retained, judicial authorities then actively prevented them from meeting with their clients to prepare an effective defence to put before the courts. A significant number of these prisoners have been sentenced to death in a chaotic, shambolic, and profoundly unjust processes, even after resolutely denying and undermining the charges against them.

Reports also indicate that a significant number of these prisoners are currently being held in solitary confinement cells awaiting the execution of their sentences. Some of them have had their death sentences overturned by the Supreme Court and re-examined in parallel court proceedings, only to then have their death sentences reissued – including Ms. Sharifeh Mohammadi.

Regarding the death sentences handed to Ms. Pakhshan Azizi, Ms. Varisha Moradi, and Ms. Sharifeh Mohammadi, more than 200 senior lawyers in Iran have issued a statement of protest addressed to the Head of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic protesting the treatment of these three women prisoners and demanding that the sentences are not carried out amid widespread fears that the three are under imminent risk of execution. The lawyers’ statement slammed the proceedings which saw the three women sentenced to death as having constituted a clear and flagrant violation of their human rights. Part of the statement read, “In the cases of these prisoners, serious ambiguities and deficiencies in the review process, access to a lawyer, examination of charge material, and observance of impartiality in judgement [have all been reported].”

Meanwhile, the “Tuesdays No to Execution” protest campaign is continuing every week, with a hunger strike taking place in 48 prisons across Iran in the 78th week of the campaign.

Amid the drastic worsening of human rights abuses inside Iran since the criminal Israeli attacks upon the country in June, there are profound concerns for the safety of political prisoners there.

The imminent danger of execution faced by at least 56 prisoners is serious and very real. An effective campaign to prevent their execution is needed to save them…

Join CODIR campaign of NO to ALL Executions in Iran!

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