The Iranian regime on Sunday executed a woman who had been forced into child marriage, as Tehran has intensified its use of capital punishment in recent weeks, according to human-rights groups.
Hanifeh Avandi was hanged in Tabriz Central Prison for the alleged intentional murder of her husband five years ago, the Norwegian human-rights organization Hengaw and the Paris-based coalition the National Council of Resistance of Iran reported.
Avandi, who was Turkish, was 17 when she was forced to marry. She was accused of killing her severely disabled husband 11 months into their marriage.
Two others, Akbar Molai and Javad Abedi, were also reportedly executed for drug offenses, the groups reported.
Government-run media outlets have not reported on the execution of Avandi. The reports came after the United Nations confirmed Iran has dramatically increased the rate of its executions.
Iran has executed at least 21 people since the start of the war with the United States and Israel two months ago, and it has arrested more than 4,000 on national security-related charges, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said Wednesday.
At least nine of those killed were murdered for alleged roles in the January protests and 10 for membership in banned opposition groups.
“I am appalled that – on top of the already severe impacts of the conflict – the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities, in harsh and brutal ways,” Turk said. “I call on the authorities to halt all further executions, establish a moratorium on the use of capital punishment, fully ensure due process and fair trial guarantees, and immediately release those arbitrarily detained.”
The regime “forcibly disappeared, tortured, or subjected to other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” thousands of those arrested after the January demonstrations, he said. These inhuman acts include “coerced – and sometimes televised – confessions and mock executions.”
Multiple detainees had died as a result of the mistreatment and torture experienced in the regime’s prisons, Turk said.
Source:
www.jpost.com
