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| Musa Berzin Khalifali |
According to Musa Berzin Khalifali, since the inauguration of Hassan Rouhani, who is known as a moderate politician, over 400 death sentences have been issued in Iran, and more than 100 executions have been carried out. In an interview with Voice of America, the Southern Azerbaijani lawyer commented on the recent rise in executions in Iran’s Azerbaijani cities, the injustices faced by impoverished individuals as well as ethnic and religious minorities accused of smuggling, and the lack of fairness in their court proceedings.
According to statistics released by human rights organizations, Iran is the second-most execution-prone country in the world, following China. In recent months, dozens of people accused of drug trafficking have been hanged in prisons in Ardabil, Urmia, and Tabriz. Musa Berzin Khalifali states that, in some cases, individuals who have been arrested for other reasons and have no connection to drug trafficking are falsely charged with these crimes and sentenced to death.
“I would say that 95% of those sentenced to death or life imprisonment in Iran for drug trafficking are poor people living in marginalized neighborhoods or individuals from minority communities,” says Musa Berzin, confirming reports by international organizations that the majority of those executed for drug charges in Iran belong to impoverished or ethnic and religious minority groups.
Amnesty International reports that most of those facing the death penalty in Iran are tried in unfair court proceedings. Musa Berzin provided Voice of America with examples of injustices in these trials: “The rulings issued by Revolutionary Courts on drug trafficking cases are final, and defendants are not given the right to appeal. A review of the verdict is only possible at the discretion of the prosecutor or the Supreme Court.” He argues that this practice contradicts principles of justice and human rights.
According to Berzin, the fact that drug-related charges are handled exclusively by Revolutionary Courts is another major source of injustice: “In Revolutionary Courts, sentences are issued by a single judge. The fate of a person’s life being decided by just one individual is a grave injustice.”
“The death sentences handed down by Revolutionary Courts are usually based on confessions obtained from defendants. However, these confessions are often extracted through torture and coercion,” the lawyer stresses, highlighting serious legal violations during the interrogation process.
Berzin also does not rule out the role of bribery in these cases: “I have personally witnessed cases where major drug traffickers have used their influence or bribed officials to secure their release. In such situations, the blame falls on individuals from weaker and poorer segments of society.”
The lawyer confirms that the inability to speak or fully understand Persian has a significant impact on the sentencing of non-Persian defendants: “Court documents are written in Persian and are read to the defendants in Persian. While Iranian law states that those who do not know the official language should be provided with an interpreter, in my years as a lawyer, I have never seen this law actually implemented. Additionally, during the investigation phase, lawyers are not allowed to participate, and prisoners are denied access to legal counsel.”
According to international human rights organizations, many of those facing the death penalty in Iran lack the financial means to hire a lawyer and are instead represented by court-appointed public defenders.
“In Iran, the government pays extremely low fees to court-appointed lawyers for defending poor prisoners, and even receiving this small amount requires going through a long bureaucratic process. As a result, whether these lawyers put effort into defending their clients depends entirely on their personal conscience,” adds Musa Berzin.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Musa Bərzin Xəlifəli: İranda edam hökmü çıxaran məhkəmələr ədalətsizdir