Collaboration with the arch-enemy?
Iran executes four Kurds for sabotage
December 29, 2023, 11:41 a.m
Only China is believed to execute more people each year than Iran. The youngest victims are three Kurdish men and a woman. The Iranian judiciary accuses them of sabotage, and human rights organizations speak of politically motivated executions.
The Iranian judiciary has executed four members of the Kurdish minority following allegations of sabotage. They were accused, among other things, of collaborating with the arch-enemy Israel. Three men and a woman were executed in West Azerbaijan province, reports the justice portal Misan: “They were hanged this morning in Iran’s northwestern province of West Azerbaijan.”
Misan is the mouthpiece of the Iranian judiciary. According to the portal, Iranian security services arrested the men and woman at the end of October 2022. They are said to have been part of a group of ten defendants who threatened national security with sabotage operations led by the Israeli secret service Mossad.
At the time of the arrest, however, thousands of Iranians were also demonstrating against the Islamic system of rule. The protests, triggered by the death of the young Iranian Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini, were violently suppressed. As a result, many death sentences were passed and carried out.
Only China executes more frequently
According to several human rights groups, Iran is the country that carries out the second most executions in the world after China. According to the Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights, more than 600 people have been executed since the beginning of the year – the highest number in eight years. The human rights organization HRANA speaks in its Annual report even about 750 executions.
Iran does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. The two states have been waging a shadow war for years: Iran has accused Israel of a series of acts of sabotage and killings aimed at its nuclear program. The US and Israel accuse Iran of involvement in missile and drone attacks on Israeli-linked ships in the Persian Gulf. Just two weeks ago, a man convicted of spying for Israel was executed in the southeastern province of Sistan-Balochistan. Human rights activists criticize many verdicts as politically motivated.