Iran Preparing For Public Execution Of Two Men Over Shrine Attack
Iran is preparing to hang two men for their alleged role in a deadly attack on a Shia shrine in Shiraz last year.
Iran is preparing to hang two men for their alleged role in a deadly attack on a Shia shrine in Shiraz last year.
Fars province's Chief Justice, Kazem Mousavi, confirmed the public executions would take place "soon" in a show of force by the regime which has stepped up the rate of its public executions in recent months.
Public executions are becoming a tool of deterrence as the regime loses control under the continuing revolutionary tide.
After being convicted for aiding in "corruption on earth, armed rebellion, and acts against national security", the two men were sentenced to death in March.
On October 26, Mousavi said they played a direct role in the "arming, procurement, logistics, and guidance of the main perpetrator" of the terrorist attack at the Shah Cheragh mausoleum.
Over a dozen were killed and 30 injured in the attack on the shrine in October while it was claimed by the militant group Islamic State.
CCTV footage broadcast on state TV showed the attacker entering the popular Shah Cheragh shrine in the southern city of Shiraz after hiding an assault rifle in a bag and shooting as worshippers tried to flee and hide in corridors.
The gunman, identified as a citizen of Tajikistan, later died in a hospital from injuries sustained during the attack.
Three other men received jail sentences ranging from five to 25 years in the trial, Mousavi said, adding that several other "Daesh (Islamic State) suspects linked to this case" were awaiting trial.
In terms of the number of executions conducted annually, Iran ranks second only to China. IHR, a Norwegian group that advocates human rights in Iran, reports that at least 270 people have been executed since 2023
Iran International received a copy of the statement Sunday and verified its authenticity.
“Objection to a democratic provision of the Constitution by you is flabbergasting,” Hashemi, the daughter of Iran’s former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, wrote while criticizing the “extensive and systematic violation of Iranians’ citizen rights”.
“It appears that unwillingly you expressed what was in your heart for a long time in a surprising manner and without attempting to keep up appearances,” she said.
In a speech at a meeting with students on April 18, Khamenei strongly objected to suggestions to allow people to decide crucial matters through a referendum.
“[Who says] the country’s various issues can be put to referendum? Where in the world do they do that? [Who says] all the people participating in a referendum have the faculty of analyzing that matter? What kind of demand is that?” Khamenei had rhetorically asked.
In her letter, Hashemi responded to Khamenei’s questions by reminding him of Article 59 of the current constitution, which was approved by a referendum after the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Article 59 stipulates that in extremely important economic, political, social, and cultural matters, the functions of the legislature may be exercised through direct recourse to popular vote by holding a national referendum.
She also enumerated some of the most recent referendums in other countries including in Britain’s 2014 (Scottish independence) and 2016 (Brexit) as well as Spain’s 2017 Catalan independence referendums.
“How is that Palestinians can decide the type of their government [through referendum] as you have proposed but not the Iranian people? She asked. “It seems that those who support you have the power of analysis and others lack such powers and are sometimes even traitors and mercenaries of foreigners?”
Faezeh Hashemi and several other political prisoners including former reformist Deputy Interior Minister Mostafa Tajzadeh and prominent political commentator and researcher in poverty, drug addiction, child abuse, and prostitution, Saeed Madani in a statement in February said they would do their best to advance the proposal to hold a referendum and a peaceful and non-violent transition to a completely democratic and developed political structure in the country.
“The only way out of the impasse for the government is to surrender to the right of the people to determine their own destiny,” they declared.
Former President Hassan Rouhani and others, mainly reformist politicians, have repeatedly suggested holding referendums on “important issues” in domestic and foreign policy.
On April 5, Rouhani for a second time since the beginning of nationwide protests in mid-September said the answer to people’s demands in the areas of foreign and domestic policies and the economy could be found by holding referendums as envisaged by the Constitution of the Islamic Republic.
In February, former Prime Minister (1981-1989) and leader of the 2009 Green Movement Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who was a reformist presidential candidate in 2009 and has been under house arrest since 2011, said in a statement dubbed “To Save Iran” that there was no hope of reforms and demanded a free and untainted referendum about the necessity for a new constitution.
Such a referendum could potentially put an end to Velayat-e Faghih (rule of the Islamic jurist) which gives a cleric such as Ali Khamenei extraordinary powers including the power to overrule all elected bodies and officials and hence, people’s choice.
Any request for such direct recourse to public opinion must be approved by two-thirds of the members of parliament according to the Constitution. This condition practically blocks any chance of a referendum as currently the parliament is dominated by hardliners and Khamenei loyalists.
The member of parliament’s national security, Shahryar Haidari, attributed the weakness to the Raisi administration's inefficiency.
"While government revenues increased under President Raisi's government, it did not manage the resources as efficiently as the previous government [of President Hassan Rouhani] that had succeeded in controlling inflation to some extent…," Haidari said.
However, he did not mention that the Rouhani administration had more access to the national foreign currency reserves although both governments are accused of wasting the national savings.
Recent statements by officials revealed successive governments spent $140 billion of Iran’s National Development Fund in 15 years, with the Rouhani administration in power for eight years.
On the other hand, the current government's "better financial status" is based on claims by its officials about rising oil exports, while economists, politicians and the media have reiterated every now and then that, the government has not been able to repatriate the hard currency for selling the oil at a price discount of 30 to 40 percent.
Haidari also praised the Rouhani administration for handling the negotiations over the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal more efficiently thanks to its capability and experience without undermining Iran's interests. Meanwhile he criticized the current government's diplomatic weakness.
The lawmaker argued that although not all of the country's problems are linked to sanctions and JCPOA nuclear talks, yet the situation could improve by 70 percent if the negotiations reach positive results.
In recent days, first, an adviser to Supreme Leader Khamenei, Ali Aghamohammadi, who is also a member of the Expediency Council admitted that the country's economic situation is far less than desirable and that as a result "at least 19.7 million Iranians are deprived of proper housing, employment, medical care, food and clothing."
Later, former Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi criticized the Raisi administration for failing to stand by its promises of mending social divides, halving the inflation rate and immediately solving problems with the country's investment market. He pointed out that Raisi has lost a lot of his over two million followers on Instagram.
On Saturday, hardline daily Kayhan, whose editor is appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and usually fully and unjustifiably defends the Raisi administration, shyly but openly criticized exiting economic conditions and wrote: "The people's economic situation has not improved under the new government. The cost of housing has continuously grown, and the price of essential commodities have increased, putting the people under pressure."
The Kayhan reiterated that "prices in the market in Iran reflect a chaotic situation." The daily added that the Islamic Republic cannot tolerate rising popular dissatisfaction. The economic problems of low-income Iranians is part of the country's realities, and the Islamic Republic and the ideology of late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Supreme Leader Khamenei call for improving the economic situation in the interest of low-income Iranians." However, the daily stopped short of suggesting how this can be done.
The hardliner daily, as many other media outlets and public figures in Iran, steered away from pointing to US sanctions as the main reason for the economic crisis, and the need for an agreement with Washington.