Spain condemns in the strongest possible terms the execution of the young protesters Abolfazl Sepahi-Badejani and Amirhossein Safari Hosseinabadi by the Iranian authorities this morning in Isfahan, as part of the brutal crackdown following the demonstrations in Alikhani Square. Spain extends its deepest condolences to their families and loved ones.
Furthermore, Spain expresses its extreme concern at the imminent risk of execution facing the other eight protesters who are being tried collectively in the same case: Alireza Sepahi, Ghaem Hosseini, Shervin Bagherian Jebeli, Amirhossein Maleki, Ali Dashti, Abolfazl Ebrahimi, Alireza Raisi and Amirhossein Ebrahimi-Analoucheh, whose cases have been the subject of serious warnings from United Nations special rapporteurs and special procedures.
Spain reiterates its firm and unequivocal position of principle: absolute opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances and in all parts of the world. Capital punishment is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment that violates the fundamental right to life and human dignity. It is, furthermore, a punishment of a strictly irreversible nature that definitively eliminates any possibility of rectifying potential judicial errors.
In line with the UN’s urgent statements, Spain urges the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as a matter of the utmost urgency, to immediately halt the execution of pending death sentences and to commute those sentences. Similarly, it demands full respect for due process, the right to a defence and the right to a fair trial, as enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a State Party.
Spain will continue to make use of all diplomatic channels at its disposal, including its membership of the Human Rights Council, to demand an end to these executions and to promote a general moratorium on the death penalty as an essential step towards its definitive legal abolition.
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