Mohammad Javad Larijani: In Iran, a person is never punished because of their religion, sect, or ethnicity.
The Secretary of the Human Rights Headquarters of the Iranian Judiciary sent a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, protesting his statement regarding the execution of a number of Sunni prisoners and calling the claim that they were tortured "baseless and unrealistic."
According to the Human Rights in Iran website, citing IRNA, on Sunday, August 8, Mohammad Javad Larijani wrote to Ra'ad Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, that his statement "is not consistent with any international document protecting human rights" and "sends the wrong signals to terrorists."
He also claimed that in the Islamic Republic, "an individual is never punished because of their religion, sect, or ethnicity."
The remarks by the Secretary of the Human Rights Headquarters of the Iranian Judiciary come at a time when human rights activists are accusing the Islamic Republic of discriminating against Sunnis, citing their exclusion from holding certain high-ranking positions and their lack of the right to a mosque in Tehran.
The Islamic Republic currently does not recognize some religions, such as Baha'i, and in recent years, a number of believers in this faith have been arrested and sentenced to long prison terms.
The Secretary of the Human Rights Headquarters of the Iranian Judiciary also continued his letter by accusing the executed individuals of carrying out actions such as "assassination of the Sunni cleric Mamosta Burhan Ali and Mamosta Sheikh al-Islam," "preparing various and numerous weapons of war and making more than 50 bombs ready to explode," "carrying out several armed robberies from gold shops in the cities of Qorveh, Zanjan, and Hamedan," and murdering "a number of environmentalists in the Kurdistan province."
Mr. Larijani announced that the group's actions led to the killing of "21 people" and the wounding of "about 40 people" of citizens in the cities of Sanandaj, Qorveh, Hamedan, and Zanjan.
According to Iranian judiciary officials, 20 members of the "Tawhid and Jihad" group were executed in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj on Tuesday, August 3.
Previously, officials from the Iranian Judiciary and Ministry of Intelligence had made accusations similar to those made by Mr. Larijani regarding the executed individuals.
Most of these individuals have denied these accusations and have stated in videos and writings published by them that they have been in "solitary cells" and "under torture" for a long time.
Shahram Ahmadi, one of the executed, said that he had been in solitary confinement for 33 months, was sentenced to death in a "five-minute" trial, and was "not allowed" to defend himself or have access to a lawyer.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also called the execution of these Sunni prisoners a "great injustice" in his statement and expressed doubts about whether these individuals received a fair trial.
Zeid Raad Hussein also referred to the Shahram Ahmadi case and stated that he was "forced under pressure to sign an interrogation sheet in which his false confessions were written."
However, the Secretary of the Judiciary's Human Rights Headquarters called the claim made in this statement about Shahram Ahmadi "completely baseless and unrealistic."
Mr. Larijani accused Shahram Ahmadi of "keeping" "four Kalashnikovs," carrying "three Kalashnikovs," and "participating" in "an armed attack on the Sanandaj Police Special Unit" that resulted in the killing of "two personnel and the wounding of five."
It has rarely been the case before that Islamic Republic officials responded to statements by UN officials about human rights violations in Iran by sending letters or publishing these letters.
In recent days, a number of human rights organizations, including the Center for Human Rights Defenders and the International Federation of Human Rights Societies, have also condemned the execution of these Sunni prisoners in separate statements.
