Iranian authorities have executed more than 500 people so far this year, according to a tally compiled by the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), bringing 2022 ahead of the previous five years in capital executions.
The group further denounces that more than half of those executed last month were from the Baloch minority. For the year as a whole, the Baloch account for 30 percent of the executions despite the fact that they make up between 2 and 6 percent of Iran’s population.
HRI has denounced this «cruel and inhumane» practice and criticized «the execution of political prisoners for security-related crimes is a violation of international humanitarian law.
The group mentioned in particular Hosein Ordujanzado, Shahin Imani Moah, Milad Ashrahan Atbatan and Manuchehr Bejandi, convicted of collaborating with the Israeli Mossad, according to a statement carried by its official news agency, Mizan.
These «troublemakers», as they are described by the Iranian judiciary, were arrested in June by the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards and were sentenced to death shortly thereafter for cooperating with the Mossad and for kidnapping.
According to the statement, the four convicted also caused «damage to public and private property» and carried out «arms deals» on the orders of an Israeli agent in exchange for cryptocurrency.
Three other defendants in this case were sentenced to between 5 and 10 years in prison for crimes such as committing a crime against the country’s security, collaborating in kidnappings and carrying firearms.