On Saturday, June 13, Javid Ghanbari, a dissident, was hanged in Mokhaberat square in the northwestern city of Orumieh. He was 21 years old.
Bushehr's prison officials have put under torture or executed a number of prisoners who were re-captured after 300 death row prisoners and soldiers, imprisoned for desertion, escaped on June 19. No exact figures are yet available on the number of those executed.
In Behbahan, southern Iran, a 38-year-old man, Eskandar Nazi, suffered a heart attack as he was brought to be hanged publicly on June 26. He died in the hospital.
In Najafabad, central Iran, the scene of repeated clashes and confrontations in recent weeks between the public and the clerical regime's agents, four fingers of Mohammad Reza Pahlevan, 21, were chopped off during the Friday prayers on June 26. He had been charged with robbery and served time in Ahwaz and Isfahan prisons.
In remarks published in the state-controlled daily Kayhan on June 18, Morteza Bakhtiari, the head of the prisons organization unveiled a new scheme involving forced labor among prisoners. He said: "We will use 20% of the prisoners in agricultural work," stating that soon, camps will be set up in desert areas with adverse weather conditions in the provinces of Kerman and Sistan-Baluchistan for this purpose.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran draws the attention of international human rights organizations to the deteriorating state of human rights in Iran and increasing executions in the country. During Khatami's tenure, at least 220 executions have been announced.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 1, 1998
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