Judicary Head Larijani seeks Leader's approval for 1120 death sentences

GVF -- The Green Voice of Freedom has learned that in a letter to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Head of the Iranian Judiciary Sadegh Larijani has requested permission to execute 1120 prisoners currently held in Iranian prisons.

According to a report presented to the Supreme Leader by Sadegh Larijani, the death sentences for 1120 have been handed down and approved by the Supreme Court of Iran and that the judiciary was pending the leader’s approval for carrying out the rulings. Normally, rulings handed down in Iranian courts are carried out after they have been upheld by the Supreme Court. However due to the mounting international pressure on Iranian authorities and world public opinion, Larijani has sought the Leader’s approval for carrying out the executions.

Most of the 1120 defendants are on death row for narcotics related crimes, and the execution of the individuals has been delayed due to international pressure and the political repercussions as a result of carrying out such rulings. In his letter, Larijani has spoken of the Judiciary’s state of uncertainty in the executing the defendants whose fate remains to be unknown.

According to a report by the Head of the Prisons Organisation of Iran to the Chief of the Judiciary Larijani, the number of prisoners in Iran’s prison cells is six times greater than the current maximum capacity. According to Amnesty International’s 2009 report, 346 people were known to have been executed in Iran, but the actual number was probably higher. This positioned Iran second in the world behind China for the number of executions carried out.

Reports suggest that since 2005, there has been constant increase in the number of executions carried out in Iran. Contrary to claims by Iranian officials, the striking execution figures have proved ineffective in reducing the crime rate which has instead been on the rise in recent years. 

Iran also executes juvenile offenders sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were under the age of 18. Iran and few other countries continue such executions, in violation of international law. According to UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston "No state really tries to defend it as a matter of principle - it's clearly outlawed. And yet Iran continues to not only charge juveniles, but to execute them in significant numbers."

Currently, a number of Iranian political prisoners of Kurdish ethnicity and other political activists arrested following the 2009 presidential election are also facing death sentences.