Latest news with #executions
The Sun
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Iran's unfathomably cruel execution regime is laid bare… by the man who's seen it first hand after 25 YEARS on death row
ONE of Iran's longest-serving prisoners has exposed the disturbing mechanisms the regime uses to put inmates to death. Saeed Masouri, who has spent 25 years behind bars, also revealed how the execution rate has spiralled in the last month in a harrowing letter written behind bars. 5 5 5 The regime's merciless killing spree has seen at least 176 inmates sent to the gallows in the past month. Insiders told The Sun the shocking spike in executions comes amid a barbaric attempt from leaders to crush dissent and act as a warning against it. Masouri, who was arrested for his affiliation with the resistance unit People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, has now told of the secret process behind executions. Psychological torture, threats against family and sham trials are all used as tools by the regime to condemn its enemies to death on trumped-up charges. Masouri's emotional letter was smuggled out of the notorious Ghezel Hesar prison in Iran and shared with The Sun from Iran Human Rights Monitor. "It is often said that every criminal act is preceded by criminal preparations, hidden beneath the surface," the 60-year-old wrote in a letter to the UN. "For instance, when an execution is carried out, the inhumane and rights-violating acts that preceded it remain hidden from view. "Formal steps like prosecution, indictment, and trial are mere facades. Every detail, from A to Z, is orchestrated by these security agencies." Masouri told how those accused are hauled into court with a "fabricated case file" to give a smoke screen of a fair and legal procedure. "These so-called 'judges don't even read the actual files," he said. Dad set to be executed in Iran shares powerful audio message blasting regime from behind bars "This is why there is no logical argumentation or credible evidence in the case files, no opportunity for defence (as trials rarely last more than 10 minutes), and no access for lawyers to review the case materials. "Verdicts are predetermined and simply announced. "Empty phrases about 'resolving disputes', 'equality before the law', 'prohibition of injustice', or 'delivering rights to rightful owners' are just lip service. "In reality, defendants are denied the right to a fair defense, and the courts are devoid of justice and even basic adherence to their own laws. "Meanwhile, the stripping of civil rights is carried out to the fullest extent possible." Defendants - and their lawyers - are often even denied access to their own files, making it near impossible to be cleared. Masouri said this is true in the cases of Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani, who both face imminent execution. "When the so-called evidence in a case has no real basis or credibility, the only way to keep it hidden is to declare the entire file confidential," he wrote. Haunting message of dad behind bars Exclusive by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital) A DAD set to be executed in Iran blasted its brutal regime in a powerful voice message recorded behind bars. Mehdi Hassani, 48, was handed a death sentence on trumped-up charges and has been tortured in jail. He now faces imminent execution after his appeal to be spared death was rejected by Iran 's merciless rulers. But defiant Hassani has unleashed a blistering put down of Iran's 'cruelty and oppression' in a voice message to his daughter Maryam that has been shared with The Sun. The dad-of-three said: 'This regime has for the past 46 years spent the country's wealth on warmongering and suppressing the people of Iran. 'If I'm in prison today and have been sentenced to execution, it is only because I could not tolerate seeing such cruelty and oppression against this nation and against the children of my land and I stood up against oppression. 'They have no evidence against me and they didn't even allow my lawyer to access and study my file so that he could expose the contradictions that exist.' Hassani - who was arrested in September - vowed the regime is 'doomed to perish'. "[This allows] the system to coerce forced confessions, such as televised admissions or baseless claims presented as 'documentaries'. "In return, the accused is promised clemency or a reduction in punishment. In this way, the defendant is forced to choose: either confess to lies or face execution. "Lawyers - stripped of any ability to defend their clients - are left to weigh between refusing to participate in injustice and doing something, anything, to save their client's life. "Often, the only path left is for the accused themselves to express remorse, seek forgiveness, or act in whatever way they think may help." But Masouri warned even if inmates decide to "confess" to fabricated charges, it does not put them in the clear. "The accused's family is summoned and threatened: if your loved one does not repent, if they do not write a confession, if they do not seek a pardon - then execution is inevitable, and nothing can stop it," he said. "If the execution happens, the blame lies with them—and with you. "Thus, when families and lawyers are left with no means of defense, they may blame themselves, one another, or even the defendant. 5 5 "The government and judiciary, meanwhile, are absolved of any responsibility. It comes amid a staggering rise in executions - which sources told The Sun came as the eyes of the world were on Iran's nuclear talks with the US rather than its human rights record. More than 1,100 state executions have taken place Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei 's stooge came to power. According to figures from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), that marks more than a 20 per cent increase compared to 2023, when the regime executed 853 Iranians. Hossein Abedini, deputy director of the NCRI offices in the UK, said paranoid rules were hellbent on stamping out repression. He told The Sun: "Executions under the clerical regime contravene all internationally recognised standards and norms of due process and are fundamentally used as a political instrument of repression. "Faced with deep-rooted crises stemming from illegitimacy, corruption, and incompetence, and driven by fear of popular uprisings and nationwide protests, this regime has resorted to increasing executions. "It employs inhumane pressures on political prisoners, torturing and harassing them and their families. "As a result, the rate of executions in Iran is rising at an unprecedented level in recent decades, with death sentences issued even for political prisoners arrested during the September 2022 uprising." Iran ramps up executions by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital) PARANOID Iranian leaders are hellbent on ramping up repression on home turf in a dramatic bid to stamp out rebellion, insiders say. It comes as Iran's regime has been left red-faced by the downfall of Syria 's dictatorship as well as severe defeats of its terror proxies. Executions are said to be taking place every couple of hours as Iran slaughters its people in "unprecedented numbers". Iran has one of the most horrific human rights records in the world, and according to campaigners also holds the harrowing title for the highest execution rate. The Sun previously revealed how dozens of people had been sentenced to death by stoning just for adultery. Harrowing records leaked from Iran's torturous prisons also showed how thousands were holed up on death row for petty crimes. In 2024, the Iranian regime ramped up the executions of its own people - including women, children and political prisoners. Official records show that the number of executions last year reached 1,000 - the highest number in 30 years and 16 percent higher than the previous. Of those on record, 34 were women and seven were under 18 at the time of their so-called crimes. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) fears the true toll is much higher as many of the deaths are kept secret, however. Most of the surging executions are by hanging, but there is also evidence of other medieval torture punishments including public flogging, limb-removal and eye-gouging.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
COVID-related agreement continues to shield some on Georgia's death row from execution
The fact that the COVID-19 vaccine is not available for newborn babies is shielding a group of prisoners on Georgia 's death row from execution. Executions in Georgia were halted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the state attorney general's office entered into an agreement with lawyers for people on death row to set the terms under which they could resume for a specific group of prisoners. At least one of those conditions, having to do with the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine, has not been met, and seeking an execution date for a prisoner covered by the agreement would breach the agreement, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram ruled. The agreement includes three conditions that had to be met before executions could be set for the affected prisoners: the expiration of the state's COVID-19 judicial emergency, the resumption of normal visitation at state prisons and the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine 'to all members of the public.' Once those conditions were met, the state agreed to give three months' notice before pursuing an execution warrant for one of the prisoners covered by the agreement and six months' notice for the rest. The state has argued that the agreement should no longer apply, contending the conditions have been met. But defense attorneys say it's still valid because the vaccine isn't yet available to infants under 6 months old, and visitation at state prisons has not returned to normal. Ingram's ruling, issued Friday, addressed only the vaccination question. She plans to handle the visitation issue separately. Ingram wrote that the state's arguments 'all boil down to an attempt to rewrite the Agreement.' The state is '(u)nhappy with the language it drafted' and wants to change it so that the condition would be satisfied once vaccines are available to 'most members of the public.' 'But courts cannot rewrite contracts to relieve a party of their regrets,' she wrote. She ruled that the agreement is 'binding and enforceable,' that the vaccination condition hasn't been met and that seeking an execution warrant before the requirements have been met would breach the agreement. The state attorney general's office plans to appeal, a spokesperson said Tuesday. Ingram noted that the Food and Drug Administration has approved clinical trials for infants under 6 months old, and newborns receive other vaccines. That shows it is possible for the COVID-19 vaccine to ultimately be available for that age group, and the state should have foreseen that that could take years, she wrote. Experts for both sides had testified that it was probable that the COVID-19 vaccine would eventually become available to babies under the age of 6 months, Ingram wrote. That was before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed U.S. health secretary. Kennedy last week announced that COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women. A few days later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 's website, which had said those groups should get the shots, was revised to say the vaccinations 'may' be given to those groups. The agreement covers fewer than 10 of the 34 people currently on Georgia's death row. While Georgia stopped carrying out executions during the pandemic, death penalty cases continued to wind their way through the court system, and as people exhausted their appeals, they became eligible for execution. A committee of a judicial task force on COVID-19 in early 2021 instructed lawyers for people on death row and the state attorney general's office to come up with terms under which executions could safely resume. The two sides reached the agreement in April 2021. The agreement only applied to people on death row whose requests to have their appeals reheard were denied by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals while the judicial emergency was in place. The agreement was to remain in effect through Aug. 1, 2022, or one year from the date on which the conditions were met — whichever was later. The legal fight arose from a lawsuit filed when officials set a May 2022 execution date for Virgil Delano Presnell Jr. The Federal Defender Program, which represents Presnell, said the state had violated the agreement because the conditions hadn't all been met. Based on that argument, a Fulton County Superior Court judge halted the execution less than 24 hours before it was to take place, and the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in December 2022 that the agreement was a binding contract. People on death row who are not covered by the agreement have since become eligible for execution. One of them, Willie James Pye, was put to death in March 2024.
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Health
- Associated Press
COVID-related agreement continues to shield some on Georgia's death row from execution
ATLANTA (AP) — The fact that the COVID-19 vaccine is not available for newborn babies is shielding a group of prisoners on Georgia's death row from execution. Executions in Georgia were halted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the state attorney general's office entered into an agreement with lawyers for people on death row to set the terms under which they could resume for a specific group of prisoners. At least one of those conditions, having to do with the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine, has not been met, and seeking an execution date for a prisoner covered by the agreement would breach the agreement, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram ruled. The agreement includes three conditions that had to be met before executions could be set for the affected prisoners: the expiration of the state's COVID-19 judicial emergency, the resumption of normal visitation at state prisons and the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine 'to all members of the public.' Once those conditions were met, the state agreed to give three months' notice before pursuing an execution warrant for one of the prisoners covered by the agreement and six months' notice for the rest. The state has argued that the agreement should no longer apply, contending the conditions have been met. But defense attorneys say it's still valid because the vaccine isn't yet available to infants under 6 months old, and visitation at state prisons has not returned to normal. Ingram's ruling, issued Friday, addressed only the vaccination question. She plans to handle the visitation issue separately. Ingram wrote that the state's arguments 'all boil down to an attempt to rewrite the Agreement.' The state is '(u)nhappy with the language it drafted' and wants to change it so that the condition would be satisfied once vaccines are available to 'most members of the public.' 'But courts cannot rewrite contracts to relieve a party of their regrets,' she wrote. She ruled that the agreement is 'binding and enforceable,' that the vaccination condition hasn't been met and that seeking an execution warrant before the requirements have been met would breach the agreement. The state attorney general's office plans to appeal, a spokesperson said Tuesday. Ingram noted that the Food and Drug Administration has approved clinical trials for infants under 6 months old, and newborns receive other vaccines. That shows it is possible for the COVID-19 vaccine to ultimately be available for that age group, and the state should have foreseen that that could take years, she wrote. Experts for both sides had testified that it was probable that the COVID-19 vaccine would eventually become available to babies under the age of 6 months, Ingram wrote. That was before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed U.S. health secretary. Kennedy last week announced that COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women. A few days later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website, which had said those groups should get the shots, was revised to say the vaccinations 'may' be given to those groups. The agreement covers fewer than 10 of the 34 people currently on Georgia's death row. While Georgia stopped carrying out executions during the pandemic, death penalty cases continued to wind their way through the court system, and as people exhausted their appeals, they became eligible for execution. A committee of a judicial task force on COVID-19 in early 2021 instructed lawyers for people on death row and the state attorney general's office to come up with terms under which executions could safely resume. The two sides reached the agreement in April 2021. The agreement only applied to people on death row whose requests to have their appeals reheard were denied by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals while the judicial emergency was in place. The agreement was to remain in effect through Aug. 1, 2022, or one year from the date on which the conditions were met — whichever was later. The legal fight arose from a lawsuit filed when officials set a May 2022 execution date for Virgil Delano Presnell Jr. The Federal Defender Program, which represents Presnell, said the state had violated the agreement because the conditions hadn't all been met. Based on that argument, a Fulton County Superior Court judge halted the execution less than 24 hours before it was to take place, and the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in December 2022 that the agreement was a binding contract. People on death row who are not covered by the agreement have since become eligible for execution. One of them, Willie James Pye, was put to death in March 2024.
Washington Post
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Colorado man who threatened election officials asks for leniency in sentencing
DENVER — Teak Ty Brockbank posted online that Colorado's top election official should be executed and her former counterpart in Arizona should also be killed. But Brockbank, who faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced Thursday for making online threats, is asking for leniency. He says he made those posts when he was drinking heavily and socially isolated, spending his evenings consuming conspiracy theories online.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Iran executes man accused of spying for Israel, Mizan reports
A United Nations report from January stated that the number of people executed in Iran rose to 901 in 2024, including 31 women. A man accused of spying for Israel was executed in Iran, according to a report from judiciary news outlet Mizan on Wednesday that named the defendant as Pedram Madani. Arrested in 2020, Madani is said to have attempted to convey classified information to Israel about critical locations in Iran, Mizan said, adding that he was also accused of acquiring wealth by illegal means. In April, the state executed an Iranian man by hanging who was convicted of espionage and intelligence cooperation with Israel. The Iranian news source described the individual as a "senior spy and field supporter of several operations" by the Israeli intelligence agency. Entangled in a decades-long shadow war with Israel, Iran has put to death many individuals it accuses of having links with Israel's Mossad intelligence service and facilitating the latter's operations in the country, notably assassinations or acts of sabotage meant to undermine its nuclear program. A United Nations report from January stated that the number of people executed in Iran rose to 901 in 2024, including 31 women, some of whom were convicted of murdering their husbands to fend off rape or after being forced into marriage. Most executions in Iran were for drug-related offenses, but political dissidents and people connected with mass protests in 2022 over the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini were also among the victims, the UN said in January.
