UN High Commissioner for Human Rights concerned about increase in executions in Iran

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

In response to the execution of Mohammad Ghobadlo in the early hours of Tuesday, February 25, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk expressed concern about the sharp increase in the death penalty in Iran and issued a statement announcing that at least 54 people have been executed in Iran since the beginning of this year.

In the statement, he stressed that the death penalty is incompatible with the most basic human right, the right to life, and called for its immediate cessation. Volker Türk stated in the statement: “Mohammad Ghobadlu is the ninth person to be executed in connection with last year’s nationwide protests, and on the same day, the Islamic Republic also executed Kurdish prisoner Farhad Salimi after spending 14 years in prison. The right to a fair trial must be respected for all defendants.”

He pointed out that the forced confessions of the executed individuals were extracted under torture and pressure, adding: "Such confessions should not be cited as evidence in any proceedings."

Volker Türk emphasized that three-quarters of the world's countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, and called on the authorities of the Islamic Republic to temporarily suspend the death penalty and abolish it in law or practice, with the aim of completely abolishing it.

The execution of Mohammad Ghobadlo and Farhad Salimi in the early hours of Tuesday, February 25, in Qezl-Hesar Prison in Karaj by the judiciary sparked widespread reactions among institutions, organizations, political and artistic figures, and human rights activists in Iran and around the world.

Amnesty International issued a statement yesterday, Wednesday, February 25, describing the execution of Mohammad Qobadlo and Farhad Salimi by the judiciary as a horrific plunge into a new realm of oppression.

Abram Pelli, the US Deputy Special Representative for Iran, also posted a message on the X social network in response to the execution of Mohammad Qobadlo, writing: "Mohammad Qobadlo should be alive today, but the Islamic Republic should know that we strongly condemn the sham trial and execution of all those who participated in the Women, Life, Freedom demonstrations and consider these actions unjust."