Indeed, it refers, in particular, to the Iranian execution binge of 2013 alone, many arising from trials that, as the Report put it, "did not adhere to basic principles of due process." Despite President Rouhani's talk of "moderation" and "respect for human rights," there were some 100 executions in the first month following his June 14 election, a reported 30 executions during his two-week "charm offensive" at the United Nations in September, and at least 600 executions since Rouhani officially assumed the presidency in August.
Accordingly, Dr. Shaheed, along with the UN special rapporteur on summary executions, Christof Heyns, have called on the government of Iran to "urgently halt the abrupt surge in hangings in the country since the start of 2014." Nonetheless, despite this surge in executions, the international community seems distracted, if not deceived, by Rouhani's continuing "charm offensive" and the promise of nuclear détente.
Today, close to a year since Rouhani's election in June 2013, the systematic and widespread violations of human rights under Rouhani - dramatized by the judicial killing spree - continue unabated, including: the systematic targeting of ethnic and religious minorities - particularly Kurds, Ahwazi Arabs and the Baha'i; the imprisonment, torture and murder of political dissidents, human rights activists, and the lawyers who would defend them; the increasing assault on labor rights; the continuing crackdown on freedom of speech, assembly and association; and the accelerating criminalization of innocents and arbitrary executions - the whole constitutive of crimes against humanity under international law.
Moreover, there is evidence that this most recent "judicial killing spree" has been organized and implemented at the highest levels of the Iranian regime, with reports that Rouhani, for example, personally approved executions for 14 human rights activists, yet another example of the massive domestic repression that continues even under Rouhani's "moderate" administration.
As well, it is not uncommon for the execution of members of Iran's ethnic and religious minorities - particularly political activists and human rights defenders - to be carried out in secret, and for the families to be notified only after the fact, such that the execution rate is likely to be even higher than reported. Indeed, in the annual report on the death penalty by Iran Human Rights, there were at least 299 executions in 21 different prisons that were either not officially announced or were carried out secretly in 2013.
Rouhani's talk of freedom and reconciliation is a welcome change from former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's frequently incendiary rhetoric and incitement. It is the responsibility of the international community to ensure that Rouhani's actions reflect his words - a far cry from the tragic human rights reality of the Iranian people. As Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam of IHR put it: "It is a paradox that the relations between Iran and the international community are improving while the number of the executions in Iran increases."
