LARA GEWHERİ

News Center- The “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” uprising that sparked in Iran and Eastern Kurdistan (Rojhilat) is going to enter its ninth month. The Iranian authorities have been trying to quell protests by using many inhumane methods for months.

 

In recent months, Iranian authorities have executed many protesters; more than 50 people were executed in the country on different charges and many more were sentenced to death in the first week of May. The high number of executions and death penalties is alarming.

The Iranian regime tries to repress all people of Iran and Eastern Kurdistan, including women, students, teachers and activists by using many inhuman methods because it is afraid of them. Despite everything, the people keep taking to the streets of Iran and Eastern Kurdistan to protest the regime.

The Iranian regime sentences protesters to death, claiming that they are sentenced to death on drug-related offences to make these sentences psychologically acceptable by society. However, its main aim is to legitimize the executions and death penalties. Unfortunately, the international human rights organizations remain silent against the increasing number of executions and death penalties in Iran.

‘They killed my son’

Despite this silence, the families of the people sentenced to death try to make their voices heard on social media platforms by using hashtags such as “Stop execution” and “We are all together”. Farzaneh Barzekar, mother of Erfan Rezaei who was shot and killed during a street protest, is one of them. “They killed my son and my only hope is your support. Hundreds of lives are in danger in Iran. Women, men and young people must unite to prevent the killings,” she wrote in an Instagram post.

Executions and death penalties protested on social media platforms

Many families whose relatives were executed in Eastern Kurdistan protested the death sentences by sharing their photos and videos on their social media accounts. In the last three months, the number of executed Kurdish people increased to 34%. Three of them were executed for their political activities while 45 of them were executed on different charges such as stealing something, murdering someone or drug-related offences. Many of them were executed in Urmia Central Prison.

565 people were executed in 17 months

According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the Iranian authorities executed at least 192 people, including eight women, in 2008 and 565 people, including five children, between September 2022 and May 2023.