"Just days after UN human rights experts decried a "dramatic escalation" in executions in Iran, the powerful Guardian Council approved harsher sentences for spying and collaboration with Israel and the United States. A spokesman for the Guardian Council, Iran's constitutional watchdog, announced the decision on October 1 following months of back-and-forth with parliament over amendments. This announcement comes soon after a UN panel revealed that Iranian authorities have executed over 1,000 people since the start of the year -- a figure that Amnesty International called the most in at least 15 years."
"Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi said the authorities' main goal is to display the Islamic republic's "violent face." "They want to intimidate the public so they don't exploit the political establishment's weakness by taking to the streets," she told RFE/RL's Radio Farda. In a stark warning, Ebadi said, "People's lives have become tools for the survival of the ruling establishment.""
The Guardian Council approved harsher sentences for spying and collaboration with Israel and the United States after months of amendments and parliamentary debate. UN human rights experts warned of a dramatic escalation in executions, and a UN panel reported that Iranian authorities have executed over 1,000 people since the start of the year. Amnesty International said that figure is the most in at least 15 years. UN experts noted an average of more than nine hangings per day in recent weeks and characterized the executions as being conducted at an industrial scale. Legal experts cautioned that vague espionage language and harsher penalties risk arbitrary accusations and mass executions. Following final amendments, the law assigns the Supreme National Security Council authority to identify "hostile states."
Read at RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]