UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Expresses Concern Over Increase in Executions in Iran

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern over the sharp increase in executions in Iran.

Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, responded to the execution of Mohammad Qobadlou in the early morning of Tuesday, February 23, by expressing concern about the sharp increase in capital punishment in Iran and announced through a statement that at least 54 people have been executed in Iran since the beginning of the current calendar year.

He emphasized in this statement that capital punishment is incompatible with the most fundamental human right, namely the right to life, and called for its immediate cessation. Volker Türk stated in this statement: “Mohammad Qobadlou is the ninth person to be executed in connection with last year’s nationwide protests, and the Islamic Republic on the same day also executed Farhad Salimi, a Kurdish prisoner, after spending 14 years in prison. Fair trial rights must be upheld for all defendants.”

He further pointed out that forced confessions of the executed individuals were obtained under torture and pressure, adding: “Such confessions should not be used as evidence in any trial.”

Volker Türk emphasized that three-quarters of the world’s countries have abolished capital punishment in law or in practice, and called on the authorities of the Islamic Republic to suspend it temporarily with the goal of completely eliminating capital punishment and to abolish this punishment in law or in practice.

The execution of Mohammad Qobadlou and Farhad Salimi in the early morning of Tuesday, February 23, at Qarchak Prison in Karaj by the judiciary sparked widespread reactions among institutions, organizations, political, artistic figures, and human rights activists in Iran and around the world.

Amnesty International issued a statement on Wednesday, February 24, describing the execution of Mohammad Qobadlou and Farhad Salimi by the judiciary as a horrifying descent into new depths of oppression.

Abram Paley, Acting Deputy Special Representative of the United States for Iran Affairs, also responded to Mohammad Qobadlou’s execution by posting a message on the X social network, writing: “Mohammad Qobadlou should be alive today, but the Islamic Republic should know that we strongly condemn show trials and the execution of everyone who participated in the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, and we consider these actions unjust.”