EU summons Iran ambassador to voice outrage at executions

The European Union summoned Iran’s ambassador to the bloc on Monday (9 January) and told him it was appalled by the executions at the weekend of two Iranians arrested in the course of a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters in the country.

Iran hanged two men on Saturday, one of them a karate champion with several national titles, in its attempts to stamp out demonstrations, which have slowed considerably since it began carrying out executions within weeks of arrests.

Stefano Sannino, secretary-general of the European External Action Service (EEAS), reiterated the EU’s outrage to the ambassador, Hossein Dehghani, the EEAS said in a statement.

Sannino also repeated an EU call on Iranian authorities to annul without delay death sentences already pronounced against other protesters.

Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Monday at least 109 protesters now in detention have been sentenced to death or face charges that can carry capital punishment.

Amnesty International said last month that Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 26 others in what it called “sham trials designed to intimidate protesters”.

Rights activists on social media said two other protesters, the 22-year-old Mohammad Ghobadlou and 18-year-old Mohammad Boroughani, had been transferred to solitary confinement ahead of their execution in the Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj city.

More death sentences

In the meantime Iran’s judiciary sentenced three more anti-government protesters to death on charges of “waging war on God”, its Mizan news agency reported on Monday, defying growing international criticism over its fierce crackdown on demonstrators.

Mizan said Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeid Yaghoubi, who had been convicted of allegedly killing members of the volunteer Basij militia during anti-government protests in the central city of Isfahan, could appeal against their verdicts.

The Basij forces, affiliated with the elite Revolutionary Guards, have been at the forefront of the state clampdown on the unrest sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s morality police on 16 September.

In an updated death toll, IHR said Monday that 481 protesters had been killed, including 64 minors, since the unrest began.

Pope Francis on Monday condemned Iran for using the death penalty on demonstrators demanding greater respect for women.

“The right to life is also threatened in those places where the death penalty continues to be imposed, as is the case in these days in Iran, following the recent demonstrations demanding greater respect for the dignity of women,” Francis said.

One of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution, the protests have drawn support from Iranians in all walks of life and challenged the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy by calling for the downfall of its rulers.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday signalled the state has no intention of softening its position, saying in a televised speech that those who “set fire to public places have committed treason with no doubt”. Under Iran’s Islamic law, treason is punishable by death.

Rights activists see the executions, arrests and harsh sentences of protesters by the clerical establishment as an attempt to intimidate demonstrators and strike enough fear in the population to end the unrest.

Despite the establishment doubling down on repression, small-scale protests persist in Tehran, Isfahan and several other cities.

Canada on Monday announced a new round of sanctions over the regime’s “brutal repression of brave Iranian voices”, said Foreign Minister Melanie Joly.

The same day, the White House condemned the latest executions, saying the United States stood with other countries demanding an “immediate cessation” of the death sentences.

“We condemn the executions of Mohammad Mehdi Karami & Mohammad Hosseini and the additional executions announced today,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan tweeted, referring to two people executed Saturday.

Several European countries including Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway have summoned Iranian diplomats in protest at the latest executions.

Condemning Iran’s latest execution of protesters, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday that “a regime that murders its own youth to intimidate its population has no future”. The Islamic Republic, which has blamed the unrest on its foreign foes including the United States, sees its crackdown of protests as preserving national sovereignty.

According to London-based rights group Amnesty International, Iran is second only to China in its use of the death penalty, with at least 314 people executed in 2021.

(Edited by Georgi Gotev)