Activists, Trade Unions, Parents of Victims Slam Executions In Esfahan

In a post on Twitter, Reza Pahlavi said: “I express my sincere sympathy with and condolences to the families of these murdered soldiers and strongly condemn this act of terrorism,” he added.

The border guards spotted a group of armed men near the border in Saravan, in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan. The five officers were killed in the ensuing confrontation with the “terrorist group” on Saturday night.

Two other guards were left seriously injured and are in a critical condition, it was also reported.

There is no information about the affiliation of the armed group, but several Baluch groups from the area are fighting an insurgency against the Islamic Republic.

The most prominent is Jaish al-Adl, which has often targeted Iran's military, especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

In recent months, the situation in Sistan-Baluchistan has dramatically worsened. The area’s cities have become very tense, especially on Fridays, when residents come out to protest against the regime.

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.

Her brother Askan Amini published a photo showing the damage in front of her grave stone.

Posting on Instagram, he wrote: "The glass of your tombstone also bothers them. Break it a thousand times, we will fix it again, let's see who gets tired."

Mahsa Amini was 22 years old when she died in the custody of the morality police in September last year after her arrest for “improper hijab”.

She had come from Saqqez to Tehran with her family to visit her relatives before she was taken in by the authorities on September 13.

After receiving serious head injuries during the first two hours of her detention she was taken to a hospital in Tehran, but on September 16, it was announced that the doctors' efforts to save her had failed.

Her death sparked widespread mass protests against clerical rule that have continued for months, posing the most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic since its birth.

The graves of those who died while opposing the regime have often been a source of contention with the authorities.

Earlier this year, the Islamic Republic stopped the installation of a stone on the grave of Mohsen Shekhari, a protester who was sentenced to death and hanged in December. A tombstone was put up by anonymous dissidents but was later destroyed by the authorities.

Deputy Health Minister Saeed Karimi said Sunday that the issue of egg and sperm donation to help infertility is beset with both legal and Sharia complications.

He said that the ministry is trying to reach a consensus based on "various fatwas" to announce a legal directive.

But the regime’s stance will be a desperate blow for many families and couples struggling to have children.

Donating sperm and eggs with the aim of helping the fertility of those who need help for various reasons has been legal in many countries for many years.

Head of Iran’s Scientific Association of Women and Midwives, Azam Mousavi told Borna news agency in April: “Until now, no law, resolution or protocol has been drafted and approved regarding sperm donation in Iran; It means that donating sperm is not legal, nor illegal in the country.

"Most Shia scholars do not consider donating sperm as permissible.

“Only a few scholars approve it under the condition that the donor of the sperm is known so that the child attributed to him can enjoy the rights such as inheritance.”

According to Ali Khamenei's fatwa, "in the absence of haram conditions such as looking, touching, etc., a stranger's sperm can be used for fertilization with a woman's egg, but the husband of the woman who became pregnant using this method will not be the father of the born baby.”