The rate of capital punishment has been increasing constantly in Iran since the beginning of the Anti-Hijab Movements in 2022. Incidentally, most of those sentenced to death have been found guilty of treason!

Citing official information from Tehran, Iran Human Rights (IHR) announced in Norway in the first week of June (2023) that more than 307 prisoners were executed in the Islamic Republic in the first five months of 2023. Among them, 142 prisoners were hanged in May alone. In its latest report, the IHR has claimed that it is the highest number of executions in a single month in Iran’s recent history. As per the report, the rate of executions increased by 75% in May 2023 compared to the corresponding month in 2022. In fact, a minimum of four people were executed per day in Iran in May 2023.

Anti-Hijab Movements spread across the West Asian nation in September 2022, following the mysterious death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman detained by the Iranian Moral Police for not wearing a hijab. Some of the Anti-Hijab protesters have already been sentenced to death for sedition.

Meanwhile, around 160 Palestinian prisoners are in critical condition in different Israel jails. Riyadh Al-Ashqar, the Director of the Palestine Centre for Prisoners Studies, revealed on June 2, 2023 that a total of 700 sick Palestinian prisoners were in Israeli jails, and the condition of 160 were quite serious. He also said that 20 among those 160 were suffering from cancer.

Talking to the media, Al-Ashqar stressed: “Musa Sofan, who has been in prison for 20 years and is suffering from cancer, is among the sick prisoners inside the Israeli jails.” He strongly criticised the concerned Israeli authorities for not offering Sofan the opportunity to receive proper treatment. According to Al-Ashqar, the Israel Prison Services are preventing Sofan’s release for medical purposes. He stated that Israel should let Sofan “at least die among his relatives, instead of dying in prison“.

Earlier, an Israeli court rejected the release of Walid Dagga, another sick prisoner. “The court did not look into the possibility of releasing him or not, but whether it had jurisdiction to deal with his case or not,” said Al-Ashqar. He informed the press that the Israeli authorities sent Dagga to Al-Ramlah Prison under unfounded claims of suffering from a strange illness, noting that “he is facing a slow death“.

Al-Ashqar believes that the detention of Dagga is unfair, as Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir “directly incited the court against the Palestinian, asking the judiciary not to look into his case“.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das