Thank you so much.
Thank you for inviting me, ladies and gentlemen.
As was said, I'm the director of the organization Iran Human Rights.
Iran Human Rights has been monitoring and reporting human rights violations in Iran for the last 17 years, with a particular emphasis on the death penalty. The imposition of the death penalty serves as a critical indicator of the human rights situation and remains the primary tool employed by the Islamic Republic of Iran to sow fear within society. Following the nationwide Woman, Life, Freedom protests, the regime has been executing an alarming average of two to three individuals every single day.
Iran Human Rights documented a staggering 834 executions in Iran last year alone, with eight of those individuals being protesters. The execution of protesters sparked an international outcry and escalated the political cost of imposing death sentences on protesters in the Islamic republic. However, the majority of executions are for drug-related offences. There were at least 471 executions for drugs in 2023.
Regrettably, the global community has largely turned a blind eye to drug executions, failing to condemn these grave violations of human rights. Even more concerning is the complicity of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, which not only remained silent in the face of this surge in executions but also proceeded to sign a new co-operation agreement with the Iranian authorities. These executions are not aimed at combatting drug trafficking; rather, they serve as a ruthless tactic to instill fear and deter future protests.
Individuals sentenced to death for drug offences are deprived of legal representation and a fair judicial process by the revolutionary courts, particularly impacting marginalized and impoverished segments of Iranian society. Ethnic minorities, notably the Baluchi minority, are disproportionately represented among those executed, serving as the low-cost victims of the Islamic republic's killing machine.
Compounding these injustices is the compelling evidence that implicates Iranian authorities and the IRGC in collusion with international drug cartels. Notably, a renowned terrorism expert has highlighted drug trafficking as one of the main sources of income for the IRGC, underscoring the illicit nature of its operations.
In 2012, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated IRGC Quds Force General Gholamreza Baghbani as a specially designated narcotics trafficker under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, shedding light on the deep-rooted ties between the IRGC and the drug trafficking networks.
The collaboration between the IRGC and the international criminal cartels extends beyond drug trafficking and money laundering to include the reprehensible practice of abducting opposition members.
This partnership was exemplified in the case of Habib Chaab, a Swedish citizen and member of an Iranian Arab opposition group. In October 2020, Chaab was abducted by the IRGC, in collusion with international criminal networks, while visiting Turkey. Subsequently, he was transferred to Iran, subjected to a sham trial by the revolutionary court and, ultimately, executed in May 2023.
Similarly, Ruhollah Zam, a prominent Iranian journalist and political activist, fell victim to the IRGC's campaign of terror when he was abducted in 2019 during a visit to Iraq and subsequently hanged a year later.
Jamshid Sharmahd, a German citizen with U.S. residency, faced a similar fate after being abducted while in the United Arab Emirates in 2020, forcibly transferred to Iran and handed a death sentence. He remains under the imminent threat of execution.
The IRGC and the Islamic republic have not only rendered neighbouring countries insecure but also orchestrated a series of terrorist attacks targeting Iranian dissidents on foreign soil, notably in Europe.
One notable incident occurred in 2018 during an Iranian opposition gathering outside Paris, where a foiled terrorist plot implicated an Islamic Republic diplomat with ties to the IRGC. Subsequently, a Belgian court sentenced the diplomat to 20 years in prison on terrorism charges, underscoring the extent of the Islamic Republic's global reach and its willingness to resort to terrorism to suppress dissent.
These acts of terrorism perpetrated by the Islamic Republic and its ideological arm, the IRGC, are not confined to Iranian dissidents but extend to non-Iranian individuals worldwide, posing a grave threat to global security and stability.
It is crucial to underscore that the Iranian people have been the main victims of the Islamic Republic and the IRGC's oppressive regime over the past four and a half decades. From the brutal mass killings of dissidents—