Iran Did not Sentence 15000 Protesters to Dying: What to Know

In September, a 22-year-old girl named Mahsa Amini died three days after being taken into custody by Iran’s morality police. Since Amini’s dying, protesters have taken to the streets to demand a change in Iran’s management and an finish to gender discrimination and state impunity for weeks. Now, Iranian authorities are cracking down on these collaborating within the protests, resulting in violence and the deaths of protesters.

However a false declare that Iran plans to execute 15,000 protesters went viral on social media this week. The message took maintain when varied tweets and infographics started circulating, together with one picture which learn, “Iran sentences 15,000 protestors to dying as a ‘laborious lesson’ for all rebels.”

Whereas the declare shouldn’t be correct, main public figures together with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in addition to actors Viola Davis and Sophie Turner, shared the put up on their social media.

The issue is that, whereas Iran’s parliament, or majlis, voted to induce the dying penalty for protesters, it’s less than them. Iran’s Judiciary metes out punishment, and answers not to the parliament however to Iran’s unelected Supreme Chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Here’s what the parliament truly voted on; the newest numbers on imprisonment and dying; and the way the world is responding.

What number of protesters have been arrested thus far?

Whereas numbers are troublesome to confirm as a result of lack of unbiased reporting in Iran, 15,915 protesters have been detained and 351 have been killed for the reason that protests started, in line with the newest figures by the Human Rights Activists Information Company, or HRANA. On Nov. 3, Javaid Rehman, the particular Iran human rights rapporteur to the United Nations, additionally informed the U.N. Safety Council that some estimates of detained protesters had been as excessive as 14,000 individuals, as reported by CNN.

Who’re a number of the notable arrests?

The arrested protesters embody Toomaj Salehi, a rapper whose music urged insurrection; Iranian journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who helped break the story of Amini; and Hossein Ronaghi, a outstanding blogger and activist who went on a hunger strike to protest his arrest.

Hamedi and Mohammadi have been held in Tehran’s Evin prison complex since late September, whereas Ronaghi’s household say they’ve misplaced contact with him since he was transferred to a hospital, alleging that each his legs had been damaged whereas in jail.

Learn Extra: How Iran’s Morality Police Enforces a Strict Interpretation of Islamic Law

What did Iran’s parliament vote on?

Two weeks in the past, 227 members of Iran’s 290-seat Parliament signed an open letter to the nation’s judiciary asking it to subject dying sentences for these protesters who had been arrested, as first reported by Iran’s state-run information company IRNA. In an announcement, Iranian lawmakers known as for the extreme punishment of those that incited riots and known as them “mohareb.” In Islamic or Sharia regulation, “mohareb” means “Enemy of God” and carries with it the dying penalty.

What number of executions have taken place thus far?

None. However Mizan, a information company within the nation, reports that three protesters have thus far been sentenced to dying in Tehran by Iran’s revolutionary court docket since the movement erupted. The primary sentence was handed all the way down to a protester who was charged with disturbing public order and peace after being accused of setting fireplace to a authorities constructing. The issued sentences are preliminary and will be appealed, however on a per-capita foundation, Iran executes more people than some other nation on the earth.

What’s the standing of different protesters?

Unsure. On Sunday, Mizan additionally reported that 5 different unnamed defendants had been sentenced to as much as 10 years in jail for violating nationwide safety and disrupting public order. These sentences may also be appealed. Final week, Judiciary Chief Gholam Hossein Ejei issued an announcement claiming that the protesters had “disturbed the safety of individuals, disrupted their livelihood and insulted their sanctities” and could be handled “firmly and strongly primarily based on regulation and equity,” according to the official Islamic Republic Information Company.

Authorized specialists say that in Iran, it’s inconceivable to hunt justice for these killed, or for detained protesters to obtain truthful trials. Attorneys usually don’t have the liberty to defend shoppers tried beneath political fees and typically face false accusations themselves. The judiciary itself shouldn’t be unbiased–usually, political and non secular trials are decided by intelligence brokers and brokers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, according to Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel peace prize laureate who was previously a decide in Iran. Rights teams additionally allege that detainees are sometimes compelled or tortured into offering false confessions primarily based on fabricated proof throughout sham trials.

Learn Extra: What Success of Women-Led Protests Say About Iran’s Future

How is the world responding?

Protestors attend a rally organized by the “Ladies Life Freedom Collective” in solidarity with protesters in Iran on Oct. 22, 2022 in Berlin, Germany.

Maja Hitij—Getty Pictures

Final week, the U.N. Human Rights Council issued a statement calling on Iran to cease utilizing the dying penalty as a software to squash protests and to right away launch protesters. “We worry that ladies and women, who’ve been on the forefront of protests, and particularly ladies human rights defenders, who’ve been arrested and jailed for demanding the top of systemic and systematic discriminatory legal guidelines, insurance policies and practices could be notably focused,” they mentioned.

Greater than 40 nations are supporting a proposal by Germany and Iceland for the Human Rights Council to carry a particular session on human rights in Iran. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, strongly criticized the Iranian government and mentioned Germany stood “shoulder to shoulder with the Iranian individuals.”

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned the crackdown by Iranian authorities was “unprecedented,” calling for “a robust diplomatic response and sanctions” on these accountable for it. Equally, the European Union and Britain announced further sanctions in opposition to Iranian officers and entities concerned in repressing protesters. British Overseas Secretary James Cleverly mentioned in a statement that the sanctions ship “a transparent message to the Iranian regime” that “the violent crackdown on protests should cease and freedom of expression should be revered.” Urging Tehran to finish the repression, EU international coverage chief Josep Borrell mentioned in an announcement that “The EU strongly condemns the unacceptable violent crackdown of protesters.”

What’s the history of executions within the nation?

Iran executes extra individuals than any nation besides China–since 2010, 6,885 people have been executed by the Islamic Republic, sometimes by hanging, in line with the Iran Human Rights Group. Most of these executed are convicted of homicide and drug-related offenses. Final 12 months, Iran put 333 prisoners to dying, together with at the very least two youngsters and 10 ladies.

Capital punishment has deep ties to the regime. In 1988, hundreds of political prisoners had been executed beneath Ebrahim Raeesi, the present President of Iran who was its judiciary chief at the time, and the Islamic Republic’s late founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Human Rights Watch mentioned the mass executions amounted to crimes in opposition to humanity and are among the many most odious crimes in worldwide regulation.

Contact us at letters@time.com.