IRAN: Five prisoners hanged in Karaj

NCRI - The Iranian regime’s henchmen in city of Karaj hanged at least five prisoners in Gohardasht Prison on Tuesday. The victims included Alireza Shahi whose death sentence was condemned by Amnesty International on Monday.

Five men were part of a group of at least ten prisoners that their execution had been for 24 November.

The five victims, Said Najafi, Farshad Haqi, Mohammad Baygi, Mohammad Polombeh and Alireza Shahi had been transferred to isolation on Saturday.

There has been no public announcement of these executions by prison officials.

Amnesty International said on Monday that Alireza Shahi did not have a fair trial and “after his arrest he was placed in detention for two weeks where he says he was tortured and otherwise ill-treated to confess. He was also denied access to both a lawyer and his family.”

“It is always cruel and inhumane to take away an individual’s life by hanging but the cruelty is compounded when the execution follows an unfair trial which has relied on coerced confessions, and ignored allegations of torture and other ill-treatment,” said Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

“The rate of executions in Iran is deplorable which, if they continue at the current rate, could reach more than 1,000 this year. In case after case we hear allegations of torture, fundamentally flawed trials, all in breach of international law and standards,” Amnesty International said.