GENEVA (9 May 2023) – UN experts* today strongly condemned several recent executions, including Mr. Habib Chaab, a Swedish-Iranian national from the Ahwazi Arab minority, Mr. Yousef Mehrdad and Mr. Sadrollah Fazeli Zare, and warned that executions following flawed trials were tantamount to arbitrary deprivation of life under international law.
“Trials of some of these persons were marred by violations of due process guarantees in proceedings that fell short of international fair trial standards,” the experts said. “Any death sentence undertaken in contravention of a government’s international obligations is unlawful and tantamount to an arbitrary execution.”
Mr. Habib Chaab was detained since October 2020 after he was kidnapped in Turkey and transferred to the Islamic Republic of Iran, under circumstances that might amount to enforced disappearance. On Saturday 5 May 2023, he was executed after the Islamic Revolution Court in Tehran found him guilty of “corruption on earth”, a capital offence under Iran’s strict interpretation of Islamic law. In March 2023, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence.