Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 12, 2023: 22 drug and murder death row prisoners, including six women, have been notified of their imminent executions in two prisons in Isfahan. One woman, Samira Abbasi, is a child bride. At least 223 people have been executed so far in 2023.
Warning of the continuation of the unusually high wave of executions in Iran, Iran Human Rights urges the international community to use all their power to stop the Islamic Republic’s killing machine.
Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “The accelerating trend of executions continues in Iran, and if the international community doesn’t take serious steps to stop the Islamic Republic’s killing machine, hundreds will be its victims in the coming months.”
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, 18 prisoners on death row in Isfahan Central Prison were informed that their death sentences would be carried out within days on 10 May.
An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Two men and two women who were informed of their imminent executions in Isfahan Central Prison, were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. 14 others from Wards 3 and 4 of the prison were all sentenced to death for drug charges.”
In Dolat Abad women’s prison in Isfahan, four women were also informed that they would be executed within days. They have all been sentenced to qisas for murder. One of them is a woman called Samira Abbasi who was sentenced to death for the murder of her husband.
An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Samira Abbasi was forced to marry a rich individual when she was 15 years old. She never wanted to marry him. Her husband was 13 years older than her. She is alleged to have killed him with pills.”
According to Iran Human Rights’ report on Women and Death Penalty in Iran on the occasion of World Day Against the Death Penalty, at least 164 women were executed between 2010-October 2021. Of those, six were child brides and one woman (Safieh Ghafouri), was an aroose-khoon-bas, a bride offered by one tribe to the opposing tribe to stop the bloodshed.
Within the marriage itself, a woman does not have the right to divorce, even in cases of domestic violence and abuse, which are hidden in cultural codes and language. In 66% of the known murder cases, the women were convicted of killing their husband or partner.