Iranian authorities announced yesterday that while the execution currently scheduled to take place by 21 May maybe postponed following a request from Ahmedreza Djalali’s lawyers, “the verdict is final, and the execution will be carried out.”
“We are deeply alarmed by the imminent execution in the Islamic Republic of Iran of Swedish-Iranian doctor and academic Ahmedreza Djalali and urgently call on the Iranian authorities to halt the execution and revoke his death sentence,” said Throssell.
Djalali was arrested in October 2017 while on a visit to Iran to attend academic workshops on disaster medicine.
“He was charged with espionage and later convicted and sentenced based on a confession that was reportedly extracted under torture, and after a trial that failed to meet international standards. In the current circumstances, the execution would therefore constitute an arbitrary deprivation of life,” she said.
“Use of the death penalty for espionage offences is incompatible with international human rights law. Countries that have not yet abolished the death penalty may only impose it for the “most serious crimes.” which is interpreted as crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing,” concluded Throssell.
For more information and media requests, please contact for more information and media requests, please contact: Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org or
Liz Throssell + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org or Lori Brumat - + 41 22 928 9149 / lori.brumat@un.org
Tag and share - Twitter: @UNHumanRights and Facebook: unitednationshumanrights
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OCHA
Summary: UN warns of potential slaughter in Rafah, Gaza, due to Israeli military operation, risking humanitarian disaster and health crisis.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | UNRWA
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini will update the press on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Summary: WHO deems current public health risk posed by avian influenza A (H5N1) low. Virus detected in calves and dairy cattle in the U.S., but virus fragments in pasteurized milk are not infectious. Surveillance and information sharing are crucial in combating the spread of zoonotic viruses.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNMAS
The head of UN peacekeeping and demining reiterated calls on Monday for a ceasefire in Gaza on Monday as a first step to returning the war-ravaged enclave to some normality, while mine clearance experts warned that Gaza is now at its “most dangerous period”.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk is gravely concerned by the escalating violence in and around El-Fasher city, North Darfur, where dozens of people have been killed in the past two weeks as hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have intensified., UN Human Rights spokesperson Seif Magango told the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) briefed the journalist on the latest development in Iran.