On Saturday October 10, campaigns are organized around the world to mark the World Day against the Death Penalty.
As every year, Iran is in the sights of the abolitionists.
With more than 280 executions in 2019, the country of the mullahs remains the second world executor after China according to the latest report from the NGO Iran Human Rights.
In Iran, when a person is convicted of murder, it is up to the victim's family to decide their fate.
She can then choose between two options: "qisas" (execution) or "diyya", which means "the price of blood", financial compensation which allows the convict to escape the death penalty.
According to Iran Human Rights, more than 350 prisoners convicted of murder were thus pardoned by the families of the victims for money in 2019. A sharply rising figure, due to the growing mobilization of part of civil society against the death sentence.
A growing aversion to the death penalty
A young girl accused of murder takes part in a reality TV show.
To escape the death penalty, she must convince, live on television, the victim's wife to forgive her.
The votes of viewers will pay the compensation paid to the bereaved woman in exchange for her forgiveness.
This story is that of "Yalda, the night of forgiveness", an Iranian film released in France on Wednesday October 7th.
A fictional story but very close to Iranian reality.
"This program really existed in Iran, even if we exaggerated certain aspects for the needs of the film", explains the director Massoud Bakhshi, guest of the program "A poster" on France 24. For the release of the film in Iran, he joined forces with an Iranian NGO: "This association, run by women, will see the families of the victims all over Iran to obtain pardon and thus avoid the executions of the condemned. With the money. collected by the film, we were able to save two people sentenced to death. "
When you live in a country like mine, no need to invent stories. "#MassoudBakshi director of #YALDA. Powerful thriller #GPcineELLE @Pyramide @ELLEfrance @FrancoiseDELLE https://t.co/k1RzeG18bB pic.twitter.com/ G1IQ7ZIDrN
- Magil (@mgilnu) October 7, 2020
For Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, co-founder of the NGO Iran Human Rights, this type of campaign is far from being an exception: "In recent years, these cases have received more and more media coverage in Iran. Whether through films , television or social networks, an increasing number of associations but also celebrities, sportsmen and artists are getting involved to help families collect money to pay for the diyya. "
Donation campaigns are regularly organized, sometimes as part of festivals or television programs.
Among the latest examples is the case, reported by Iranian news agency Ilna on Tuesday (October 6), of a man who was able to escape execution thanks to the help of wrestlers from the Iranian national team.
The latter launched an appeal on social networks and were able to collect the necessary sum, in particular thanks to foreign donations.
After almost ten years in prison, the man, who had been convicted of a murder committed during a street fight, was finally able to pay the compensation of 10 billion rials (200,000 euros) requested by the family of the victim.
"There is a growing aversion to the death penalty in Iran, especially among educated Iranians," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
"However, in Iran, it is forbidden to criticize or campaign against the death penalty, the diyya is the only legal way to prevent an execution, which is why these campaigns are multiplying."
However, if "the price of blood" saves lives in Iran, several NGOs point to the perverse effects of this practice which reinforces social inequalities.
The diyya, a "tool of social discrimination"
The price of the diyya is reassessed every year by the Iranian central bank, depending on inflation.
The amount is then announced by the judiciary.
In 2020, the minimum "blood price" compensation for death row inmates was set at 3.30 billion rials (66,500 euros), the equivalent of around 13 years of income for an average employee.
The diyya represents a huge financial contribution for bereaved families, especially today, as Iran goes through a serious economic crisis.
But for the accused, most often from disadvantaged classes, it is almost impossible to pay such sums, even with all the family money together.
"The diyya is above all a powerful tool of social discrimination", deplores Karim Lahidji, Iranian lawyer who has taken refuge in France and president of the League for the Defense of Human Rights in Iran.
"In theory, families can forgive without asking for financial compensation. But in the overwhelming majority of cases, victims ask for more than the minimum set. A wealthy person can murder his wife, pay and make one or two. years in prison. For the poorest, negotiations can take years and put a destructive weight on families, especially since the convicts are sometimes minors without resources. "
In its October 2020 report, the FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights) considers that these protracted negotiations are plunging families "into a traumatic state of permanent stress".
Left in limbo, the convicts are subjected to a psychological "form of torture".
Finally, in addition to exacerbating class discrimination, the diyya does not apply in the same way when it concerns women and minorities.
The Iranian penal code stipulates that a man who surprises his wife in adultery and kills her should not be sentenced to death or pay "the blood price" to the family.
According to human rights NGOs, murders targeting certain ethnic or religious minorities such as Kurds, Turkmens, Azeris, Baluchis (Sunni minority) or Baha'is (religious minority) almost systematically escape the law. compensation of the diyya.
A drop in trompe-l'œil executions
In theory, it is up to the families to manage the negotiations among themselves to settle the murder cases.
But in reality, the regime is instrumentalizing "the price of blood" for political ends.
The most convincing example is certainly the execution of wrestler Navid Afkari, in September 2020. According to the authorities, the man accused of intentional homicide of an official during the demonstrations of 2018 was executed at the request of the family of the victim.
A version denied by Navid Afkari's lawyer, who says that a meeting was to be held the day after the execution to negotiate pardon.
"Navid Afkari was hastily killed in a clandestine manner by the regime for political reasons. They then put the responsibility on the back of the family of the victim", denounces Karim Lahidji.
"The diyya is the tree that hides the forest because if some of the condemned get by, those who disturb the power are executed without possible negotiation."
Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari was executed this morning.
His lawyer @hassan_younesi says the family of Hassan Torkaman, the person who was allegedly killed by Navid, had agreed to pardon him, which according to the Iranian law could lead to the reduction of the death sentence.
pic.twitter.com/JlC9NFcYO1
- IranWire (@IranWireEnglish) September 12, 2020
Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari was executed this morning.
His lawyer @hassan_younesi says the family of Hassan Torkaman, the person who was allegedly killed by Navid, had agreed to pardon him, which according to the Iranian law could lead to the reduction of the death sentence.
pic.twitter.com/JlC9NFcYO1
- IranWire (@IranWireEnglish) September 12, 2020
For Behzad Naziri, refugee opponent in France and member of the National Council of Iranian Resistance, power is caught in a paradox: "The regime needs executions to instill fear and maintain control over civil society because it seeks more and more to free himself from oppression. At the same time, with these unjust executions, he is adding fuel to the fire. It is a dangerous bet, no one knows how long this situation can last. "
A situation which is all the more risky as the regime must also deal with the growing pressure exerted by the Iranian diaspora and international organizations.
"While there was hatred and rivalry between the first generations of Iranian refugees, the young diaspora is very united and involved in the fight for human rights in Iran," said Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan, director general of the NGO Ensemble against the death penalty (ECPM).
"This involvement is absolutely crucial and weighs on the regime."
But while judicial executions tend to decrease in Iran in favor of the diyya, the fierce repression exercised during the latest protests worries opponents of the regime.
"In 2018, they arrested and sentenced many demonstrators but during the second mobilization, at the end of 2019-beginning of 2020, the regime changed its strategy and systematized summary executions in the street by snipers," accuses Behzad Naziri.
"Today, the regime is tempted to leave the legal framework because official executions and media campaigns have too high a political price," he concludes.
According to a count obtained by Reuters from Iranian government sources, 1,500 people have lost their lives in ten days during these latest protests caused by the rise in the price of gasoline.
This repression would be the bloodiest in the country since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Summary executions, according to human rights organizations, committed hidden from view, which escape official statistics, without a legal framework or diyya.
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