Australia must apply pressure to halt executions in Iran
In solidarity with human rights defenders worldwide, Capital Punishment Justice Project (CPJP):
• calls for an immediate halt to impending executions against protestors in Iran
• commends the growing number of statements from Australian Parliamentarians, across the political spectrum, in support of Australia’s documented policy against the death penalty
• calls on the Australian Government to impose further Magnitsky-style sanctions against Iran and to list the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
CPJP joins the call to immediately halt the impending executions of Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Yaghob Kordsofla, three Iranian citizens sentenced to death on 9 January for “waging war against God” during protests, where they are alleged to have played a role in the death of three Basij militia members.
Since 8 December 2022, at least five men have been executed by Iran for their roles in recent protests. At least 17 people face imminent execution, with around 100 individuals currently facing charges that carry the death penalty in relation to their roles in the protests. Over 500 protestors have been killed and 19,200 protestors have been arrested following the arrest of Mahsa ‘Jina’ Amini by Iran’s morality police and subsequent death in custody last September.
These are the latest death sentences to be handed down to protestors, in a series of sham trials run in closed courts, with no access to independent legal representation and relying on confessions arising from torture. This is occurring in a climate where reliable reports show that at least 44 criminal defence attorneys have been arrested by Iranian authorities since September.
As a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Iran is egregiously violating its fair trial obligations under Article 14 and the right to life provisions under Article 6. As the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner has noted, “The weaponization of criminal procedures to punish people for exercising their basic rights – such as those participating in or organizing demonstrations – amounts to state sanctioned killing”.
CPJP supports the number of Australian Parliamentarians, across the political spectrum, in strongly condemning these executions, particularly in relation to the impending execution of Majid Kazemi, who has family ties to Australia. This position clearly demonstrates the bi-partisan support for the Australian Strategy for Abolition of the Death Penalty which states that “Australia opposes the death penalty in all circumstances for all people”.
We commend the Australian Government’s imposition of Magnitsky-style sanctions on 10 December 2022 on the Basij Resistance Force and six individuals in Iran in relation to the death of Mahsa ‘Jina’ Amini. Now is the time for the Australian Government to impose further sanctions, specifically in relation to this series of state-sanctioned killings, held under the guise of the ‘death penalty’, that are clearly escalating.
Finally, we call on the Australian Government to list the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as the terrorist organisation that they evidently are – this series of executions of young protestors is clearly designed to instil deep fear in the public and suppress dissent.
