Human rights groups fear that the number of people executed in Iran could double this year after reports of a spike in secret hangings at a large prison in the city of Mashad. Iran already executes more people per capita than any country in the world.
Credible information from former inmates indicates that "numerous" undeclared executions have taken place in Vakilabad Prison over the past year, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) said in a statement. Many reportedly were hanged in groups.
Most learn their time on death row is up just hours before they are sent to the gallows and their families are given no warning, former prisoners have said. The bodies are returned the following day, once relatives have paid the cost of the rope used in the hanging, one ex-prisoner told the ICHRI, a New York and Netherlands-based non-governmental organisation.
Ten Vakilabad prisoners are said to have been executed together on October 12. More than 600 inmates remain on death row, most of them apparently for drugs offences, the ICHRI said. Mashad lies on a major narcotics smuggling artery from Afghanistan, Europe's main supplier of heroin.
Ahmad Ghabel, a religious scholar critical of the government, documented at least 50 executions during the three months he spent at the prison earlier this year. Another former inmate told the ICHRI that he saw 46 prisoners hanged on a single day in October 2009.
"These reports…indicate that Iran is executing even more people - dramatically more - than now estimated, and possibly twice as many as last year," Aaron Rhodes, an ICHRI spokesman said in a telephone interview from Hamburg, Germany. "We are concerned that if these executions are, in fact, taking place in Mashad, then are other prisons executing in secret also?"
Iran does not allow human-rights rapporteurs into the country. Amnesty International has been investigating similar reports from former inmates and families of prisoners at Vakilabad but has yet to complete its findings. However, Drewery Dyke, its London-based Iran expert, said in an interview: "We regard these allegations as credible".
Analysts say the rising use of capital punishment probably reflects the ascendancy of hardliners in Iran's judiciary, which has also been meting out extreme forms of corporal punishment in recent months.
Iran's deputy judiciary chief, Ebrahim Raisi, this week hailed the recent amputation of a thief's hand as a "divine punishment" and "source of pride".
The authorities do not release the numbers of those hanged or their names, and have not acknowledged any secret, mass executions.
Mr Ghabel, the religious scholar, told the ICHRI that executions at Vakilabad were not publicised to "avoid a huge international uproar". He was freed on bail in June but detained again last month after speaking publicly about the group executions at Vakilabad. His wife says he suffers from heart disease.
While the Iranian authorities are sensitive to international criticism of their human-rights record, officials at Vakilabad do not mind word of group executions leaking out locally because they are meant to intimidate drug smugglers, observers say.
"It appears the judiciary chief, Sadegh Larijani, unlike his precedessor, doesn't believe in keeping down the number of executions, particularly for drug-related crimes," said a senior analyst in Tehran, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
At least 388 were executed last year, compared to 85 in 2005, the year that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office.
Only China executes more of its citizens.
Vakilabad's inmates know when executions are imminent, but not whose turn it will be.
Phone lines at the facility are cut off at 4pm so that the news cannot be relayed beyond its walls, former inmates told ICHRI.
All prisoners are returned from the yard to their cells. Only then are the names of the condemned announced over a loudspeaker. Those about to die are removed from their cell blocks for ritual religious cleansing and to write their wills.
"Families, lawyers and prisoners themselves… have no idea when the executions will be carried out, let alone [having the family] present during the executions," a former inmate said.
Under Iranian law, families must be informed of an execution so that they can visit the prisoner and even attend the hanging.
Capital offences in Iran include murder, rape, drug trafficking, armed robbery, adultery, treason and espionage. The authorities insist that the death penalty is essential for maintaining public security and that is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.
But human-rights groups say that many accused of drug offences and other serious crimes are often held for long periods in pre-trial detention, routinely ill-treated and allowed only limited access to a lawyer.
The ICHRI said in a statement: "According to multiple accounts, the majority of inmates on death row were convicted for narcotics-related crimes. Some reported that they were tortured and forced to make confessions, but that trial judges ignored their claims of physical coercion."
Much of Iran's crime is drug-related. In the past two decades, Iran has lost more than 3,500 law enforcement officers in clashes with heavily armed smugglers on its border with Afghanistan.
By blocking Afghan heroin from reaching Europe, Iran also suffers a costly spillover effect: it is flooded with cheap heroin and opium and is believed to have the world's highest addiction to both.
But high youth unemployment and social problems also contribute to high drug addiction and crime rates, analysts say.
Mr Rhodes of the ICHRI said: "The authorities are trying to curb these problems by using extreme punishments, which violate Iranian and international law, in an increasingly brutal policy of intimidation."
mtheodoulou@thenational.ae
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Race card:
6.30pm: Maiden; Dh165,000; 2,000m
7.05pm: Handicap; Dh165,000; 2,200m
7.40pm: Conditions; Dh240,000; 1,600m
8.15pm: Handicap; Dh190,000; 2,000m
8.50pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed; Dh265,000; 1,200m
9.25pm: Handicap; Dh170,000; 1,600m
10pm: Handicap; Dh190,000; 1,400m
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The Specs
Engine 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp (542bhp in GTS model)
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000 (Dh549,000 for GTS)
Warlight,
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if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning.
The trains
Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.
The hotels
Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.
If you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Chicago from Dh5,215 return including taxes.
The hotels
Recommended hotels include the Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile, located in an iconic skyscraper complete with a 1929 Olympic-size swimming pool from US$299 (Dh1,100) per night including taxes, and the Omni Chicago Hotel, an excellent value downtown address with elegant art deco furnishings and an excellent in-house restaurant. Rooms from US$239 (Dh877) per night including taxes.
The biog
Favourite food: Tabbouleh, greek salad and sushi
Favourite TV show: That 70s Show
Favourite animal: Ferrets, they are smart, sensitive, playful and loving
Favourite holiday destination: Seychelles, my resolution for 2020 is to visit as many spiritual retreats and animal shelters across the world as I can
Name of first pet: Eddy, a Persian cat that showed up at our home
Favourite dog breed: I love them all - if I had to pick Yorkshire terrier for small dogs and St Bernard's for big
The Facility’s Versatility
Between the start of the 2020 IPL on September 20, and the end of the Pakistan Super League this coming Thursday, the Zayed Cricket Stadium has had an unprecedented amount of traffic.
Never before has a ground in this country – or perhaps anywhere in the world – had such a volume of major-match cricket.
And yet scoring has remained high, and Abu Dhabi has seen some classic encounters in every format of the game.
October 18, IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders tied with Sunrisers Hyderabad
The two playoff-chasing sides put on 163 apiece, before Kolkata went on to win the Super Over
January 8, ODI, UAE beat Ireland by six wickets
A century by CP Rizwan underpinned one of UAE’s greatest ever wins, as they chased 270 to win with an over to spare
February 6, T10, Northern Warriors beat Delhi Bulls by eight wickets
The final of the T10 was chiefly memorable for a ferocious over of fast bowling from Fidel Edwards to Nicholas Pooran
March 14, Test, Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by six wickets
Eleven wickets for Rashid Khan, 1,305 runs scored in five days, and a last session finish
June 17, PSL, Islamabad United beat Peshawar Zalmi by 15 runs
Usman Khawaja scored a hundred as Islamabad posted the highest score ever by a Pakistan team in T20 cricket
Scoreline:
Everton 4
Richarlison 13'), Sigurdsson 28', Digne 56', Walcott 64'
Manchester United 0
Man of the match: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton)
The%20specs
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McIlroy's recent struggles
Last six stroke-play events (First round score in brackets)
Arnold Palmer Invitational Tied for 4th (74)
The US Masters Tied for 7th (72)
The Players Championship Tied for 35th (73)
US Open Missed the cut (78)
Travellers Championship Tied for 17th (67)
Irish Open Missed the cut (72)
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Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.
Stat of the day - 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.
The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227 for four at the close.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Poacher
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