Terror, executions, the right to life, prison conditions and extra suffering for regional Iran

UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Dr Ahmed Shaheed

By Jamal Ekhtiar:

One of the serious concerns under the current system in Iran is the violation of rights to life, including arbitrary executions carried out without equitable trials.

The Iranian government usually justifies executions in the name of fighting crime and drug smuggling, which is an excuse because it could use other ways to counter smuggling and crime without hanging so many citizens.

Different from central Iran, in regional Iran the government often justifies executions with false accusations against dissidents of terrorism and other labels. There is a double standard in place, with zero tolerance towards the Kurds, Ahwazi or Baloch, while there is softer dealing towards central Iran.

United Nations agencies have not been successful in addressing issues around the right to life, including executions and poor prison conditions, particularly in militarized regions like Balochestan, Ahwaz and Kurdistan. The situation in these prisons is very unclear and the so-called international community rarely tries to bring it to light. Even though Dr Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, is denied the opportunity to visit Iran, it remains his duty to push for transparency in relation to these prisons.

The government accuses many of the detainees in those areas of terrorism, simply because of their affiliation to a political party, and there is no freedom for the populations wrongly defined as minorities to have their own political associations or parties.

Iran is a multi-national country with stolen histories and denied identities for a majority of the population. The government should not cruelly label citizens, pro-party individuals and dissidents as terrorists and put people on trial for their political views and what they think.

The United Nations Charter even recognizes the right to armed struggle for suppressed nations, and the rights of more than three-fifths of the population in Iran have never been allowed even to a minimum level.

The solution to Iran’s nuclear issue, human rights issues, sponsorship of international terrorism and all other disputes is linked to the issue of recognition of the rights of all nationalities in Iran and the lifting of domestic terrorism imposed on the non-central peoples.

It all starts with the inequitable hegemony of Iran, placing the yoke internally on denied nationalities and then extending this to threaten other peoples in the region and show off to the world.

Through the realization of the rights of all nationalities in the country, Iran could assume a more humane character domestically and become a positively committed player in the region and the world.

Jamal Ekhtiar is a journalist from eastern Kurdistan. He has been a writer and contributor to various English and Kurdish media over the past ten years. He also works with civil society organisations.