Archive photo: Supporters of MEK, protest surge in executions in Iran.
Upon appointing Ebrahim Raisi as the new head of regime’s judiciary, a new wave of executions have started in Iran- In the last two week of April 2019, at least 9 people have been executed on various charges in Iran.

In the last few days, the Iranian authorities carried out the execution of four prisoners. The men were held in custody at Babol, Mashhad, Ardebil and Kermanshah prisons.

The first executions came on April 18. 45-year-old Vali Zandian was hanged at Ardebil prison and Jafar Hosseini was killed at Dizelabad prison in Kermanshah province.

Then, on April 22, the Iranian state-run media reported the execution of a man at the central prison in Mashhad.

Most recently, on Wednesday, April 24, a prisoner identified only as A.Gh. was executed at Babol Prison in northern Iran. Those executed were charged with various charges.

Anti-Regime Protests

The executions come just a few weeks after the flood-hit victims in various cities started protesting against the regime’s lack of support for the flood-hit areas.

In October, supporters of MEK gathered on the streets of London and Belgium to protest the regime’s widespread use of the death penalty.

Protestors took their chants to 10 Downing Street in London, the residence of Prime Minister Theresa May. In Belgium, protestors gathered outside the European Union (EU) headquarters.

Half of the World’s Executions

International human rights groups, including Amnesty International, often draw attention to the regime’s violent and brutal application of capital punishment. The clerical regime in Iran is responsible for more than half of the executions that take place across the globe each year.

This is also a conservative estimate. Many executions in Iran go unreported, especially those of members of opposition political groups like the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK).

To date, the Iranian regime has executed more than 120,000 for political reasons. In the summer of 1988 alone, the regime killed an estimated 30,000 political prisoners, mainly members of the MEK.

“There needs to be more pressure to bring a halt to all of these executions,” Naghmeh Rajabi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said. “Children, people, normal people are walking in the streets and they see bodies hanging from cranes… It’s completely unacceptable in the twenty-first century,” she said.

People are being sent to the gallows for non-violent crimes. In 2014, the Iranian regime parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, estimated that 80% of all executions were carried out against prisoners convicted of drug offenses.

Through its use of the death penalty, the regime has established a climate of fear and repression. Its monopoly on violence is designed to ensure the public do not rise up and bring a democratic Iran to fruition. This is how the regime has remained in power to date, but their grip is weakening. The brave Iranian youth are increasingly risking their lives and freedom to make their voices heard. They will not be silenced any longer.

Staff writer