On June 28, Iran witnessed the 13th Presidential election since the beginning of the ayatollahs’ reign in 1979. As it was predicted, Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s favorite candidate, easily won the election.
Raisi is one of Iran’s most notorious judicial authorities who was involved in enormous crimes, including extrajudicial executions in 1988. At the time, he had a leading role in the ‘death commissions’ as Tehran’s Deputy Prosecutor.
He and other members of the ‘death commissions’ in various cities reportedly sent more than 30,000 political prisoners, mostly affiliated with the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI), to the gallows.
During the 2017 Presidential campaign, President Hassan Rouhani described Raisi as someone who only knows prison and execution. “Our people once again will announce that they do not want those who only understand the execution and prison in the past 38 years,” said Rouhani in a campaign in Hamedan city in May 2017.
Thanks to his merciless performances, Raisi was appointed as Judiciary Chief by Khamenei on March 7, 2019. During his tenure as the chief of the judiciary, he approved hundreds of death sentences against political prisoners, women, juvenile offenders, followers of religion and ethnic minorities, and ordinary inmates.
Execution of Someone Surrendered Himself for Manslaughter
At dawn on Sunday, June 20, authorities in Iran hanged Ramin Saadat Biglou, from Zanjan city, at Chubin Dar Prison in Qazvin province. Four years ago, he surrendered himself to the State Security Forces (SSF) for manslaughter.
According to Saadat Biglou, the victim was owed 100 million rials [$2,500]. The story began with a verbal controversy. “I pushed him to a wall. I saw his head was bleeding, and when he died. I was scared and ran away,” said Saadat Biglou. However, he finally handed himself to the authorities after 24 hours.
Execution of An Athlete
Furthermore, at dawn on Monday, June 21, authorities implemented the death sentence of Habib Rezaei, the goalkeeper of a local team in Salmas county. According to a source familiar with the case, he killed a citizen in a personal conflict three years ago. He was immediately sentenced to the death penalty by the local judiciary, and the ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court some while later.
According to the human rights association No to Prison – No to Execution, Iranian authorities have implemented at least 45 death sentences during the new Persian year which began on March 21. In the meantime, human rights activists believe the government does not announce the real number of executed inmates, as the abovementioned executions have yet to be declared by the Judiciary or state-run media.
Security Forces Beat Citizens, Leaving One Dead, One Critical Injured in ICU
Furthermore, on Wednesday, June 16, security forces in the Suran police station beat and tortured Iranian Baluch citizen Massoud Kahnagi Gongi to death. A night earlier, locals seized Kahnagi Gongi along with another person while stealing a motorcycle in the Nasser-Abad village and surrendered him to the local police station.
On the other hand, on Tuesday, June 15, security forces beat and tortured Iranian Baluch citizen Rezvan Blark when he referred to the Camp Chabahar police station to sue someone else. Due to the intensity of blows, he had been hospitalized in Imam Ali hospital’s ICU for two days. According to locals, his health condition is still critical after five days.
