UPDATE: Mohamed Salas was executed by the Iranian authorities at dawn on 18 June 2018.
In response to the execution of Mohammad Salas, a 51-year-old man from Iran’s largest Sufi order, the Gonabadi Dervish religious minority, Amnesty International said:
“Amnesty International condemns, in the strongest terms, today’s execution of Mohammad Salas, which was carried out despite serious unfair trial concerns.
“The Iranian authorities have a deplorable track record when it comes to the use of the death penalty. This execution is a travesty of justice that is abhorrent and unconscionable. It flies in the face of the huge public outcry in the country and is vengeance, not justice.
“Mohammad Salas’ trial was grossly unfair. He said he was forced under torture to make a ‘confession’ against himself. This ‘confession’, taken from his hospital bed, was broadcast on state television weeks before his trial and used as the only piece of evidence to convict him. He was not allowed access to his chosen lawyer at any point before or during his trial, and his independent lawyer’s repeated demands to the authorities to allow critical evidence indicating his innocence were dismissed outright.”
Following Mohammad Salas’ execution at Raja’i Shahr prison at dawn this morning, the authorities took his body away for burial to Borujerd, Lorestan Province, hundreds of kilometres from where his children and mother live, and despite their protestations to bury him in Tehran. The authorities buried his remains in Borujerd without his family present and with security forces standing guard. They also denied the family’s request that Mohammad Salas’ body be examined by a coroner to determine the injuries he incurred because of the torture to which he said he was subjected.