Impudent remarks of mullahs' head of judiciary

In a gathering of directors of prisons, mullah Mohammad Yazdi, head of the Judiciary, boasted: "No one is imprisoned in Iran for his thoughts and beliefs." He impudently went on to say that the regime's laws were "the best and most consistent" in the world.

Yazdi's brazen remarks come only a few weeks after the U.N. Human Rights Commission expressed grave concern specifically over "the large number of executions," torture and inhuman punishments, and "the grave breaches of human rights."

According to the regime's penal laws, any gathering of more than two persons, even outside Iran, or any form of "insult" to the leaders of the regime are heavily punished, even by death. On the basis of this law, many dissidents and political prisoners are executed under the bogus pretext of "espionage."

The number of executions publicly announced in the state media in 1996 rose three-fold relative to 1995. The actual figure for executions, most of which are carried out in secret, is much higher than what is made public.

The number of those executed for their beliefs and on political grounds under the mullahs' rule is at least 100,000 and a greater number are imprisoned for the same reasons under vicious torture.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran - Paris
May 7, 1997

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