The United Nations Special Rapporteurs on human rights in Iran expressed alarm Wednesday about the number of executions in the country, including the hanging of a former child bride who was accused of murdering her husband.
At least 176 people have reportedly been hanged in Iran in 2014 alone, and the rate of executions appears to have increased steadily since the summer of 2013, the UN said.
Most of the executions were for drug-related offenses, in violation of international legal provisions, which limit the permissibility of capital punishment to the "most serious" crimes, the UN reported.
Farzaneh Moradi, who was reportedly forced into marriage at age 15, was hanged on March 4 in Isfahan Prison for murdering her husband. Moradi confessed to the murder six years ago. But she later said the murder was was carried out by a man that had persuaded her to confess to the crime, convincing her that a young mother would not be executed. The court reportedly would not allow a revision to her original confession.
“This is yet another truly alarming case which demonstrates the need for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ahmed Shaheed said in a statement.
Shaheed stressed serious concern over the provision of due process and fair trial guarantees in this and other cases.
“The Government continues to execute individuals at a staggering rate, despite serious questions about fair trial standards,” said Christof Heyns, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
“In this case, the defendant was reportedly forced into marriage as a teenager and claimed that she was coached into confessing to a crime she did not commit,” Heyns said. “Yet the execution proceeded apparently without due attention to these very disturbing circumstances and claims.”
"Moradi was already a victim before she was hanged,'' said Rashida Manjoo, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences. ''She was a former child bride who apparently could not escape her marriage due to cultural norms and legal barriers to divorce in Iran.”
“She appears to have fallen victim to the system once again, this time paying with her life,” Manjoo said. “The Government should work to ensure its obligations to provide protections for women and children, among others.”
The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Mendez, said, “The cruelty of this execution in light of an apparent coerced confession is particularly profound and unjust.”
The United Nations experts are urging the government of Iran “to heed to calls by the international community to declare a moratorium on executions.” They expressed shock at the continued surge and at the recent comments issued by Iranian officials, claiming that the executions perpetrated by the government to date are a “great service to humanity.”
Previously, on 21 January 2014, the Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Iran and on summary executions called on the government of Iran to urgently limit executions in light of a recent reported upsurge in hangings, which do not meet ‘most serious’ standards in accordance with the international law.
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