Following a reportedly unfair trial, they were sentenced to death and executed around June 19. More Ahvazi Arabs are said to be awaiting execution.
The three UN rapporteurs or human rights investigators are those who deal with torture, summary execution and the Islamic Republic.
“Given the lack of transparency in court proceedings, major concerns remain about due process and fairness of trials in cases involving the death penalty in Iran,” said the trio about the executions of Abdul Rahman Heidarian, Abbas Heidarian, Taha Heidarian and Ali Sharif.
The four men, three brothers and a cousin, were reportedly arrested in April 2011 during a protest in Khuzestan province and convicted of moharebeh (enmity against God) and fasad-fil arz (corruption on earth).
“Under international law, the death penalty is the most extreme form of punishment, which, if it is used at all, should be imposed only for the most serious crimes,” the three men said. “Defendants in death penalty cases should also receive fair trial guarantees stipulated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Iran in 1975.”
“Any death sentence undertaken in contravention of those international obligations is tantamount to an arbitrary execution,” the three UN Special Rapporteurs stressed.
They noted with concern the high numbers of executions carried out in public in Iran despite a circular issued in January 2008 by Iran’s Chief Justice that banned public executions. At least 25 executions have been carried out in public this year.
“Executions in public add to the already cruel, inhuman and degrading nature of the death penalty and can only have a dehumanizing effect on the victim and a brutalizing effect on those who witness the execution,” the three UN rapporteurs said.
The Special Rapporteurs said they regret that the authorities continue to apply the death penalty with great frequency. They urged the Iranian authorities “to halt immediately the imposition of the death penalty for crimes which do not constitute the most serious crimes, as well as ensure stringent respect for fair trial guarantees.”
The signers were: the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ahmed Sha-heed; the Special Rapporteur on extra judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns; and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Mendez.