Iran’s parliament did not sentence 15,000 prisoners to death — but their lives are still in danger

Claim: The Iranian parliament sentenced  15,000 prisoners to death penalty for their involvement in protests.

Fact: The Iranian parliament did not pronounce a sentence on any prisoners. An overwhelming majority of lawmakers did sign a letter calling for harsh punishments for those involved in the recent protests.

Over the past two months, Iran has been the site of widespread protests. On 13 December, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the custody of Iran’s morality police. She was arrested for violating laws regarding the dress code for women in public places. Based on Islamic guidelines, these laws require women to cover their heads with a hijab and are strictly enforced. 

According to Iranian authorities, Amini died of pre-existing medical conditions. This explanation was rejected by Amini’s family who assert that she died due to police brutality. The incident ignited public outrage. Following her funeral, large-scale protests erupted throughout Iran and have continued over the past few weeks. Protestors have clashed with authorities, with lives lost on both sides. According to Iran Human Rights NGO (IRHNGO) 342 civilians, including 43 children, have been killed in clashes with security forces. IRHNGO stated that this is a conservative figure.

Several thousand protestors have been arrested and now stand at the mercy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Courts. The revolutionary courts are usually called to preside over political cases and trials related to treason and smuggling, among others. They’re known to be more severe and unpredictable than ordinary courts, while being less transparent. In the past, the revolutionary courts have handed out severe punishments to journalists, human rights defenders, and the leadership’s political opponents.

Fact vs Fiction

Last week, news began to circulate on social media that Iranian authorities had given more than 15,000 prisoners the death penalty. Certain posts specified that it was the Iranian parliament that had issued these death sentences. Soch Fact Check found this to be misleading.

On 6 November, Iranian state-run news agency Press TV reported that 227 of the country’s 290 parliamentarians had signed a letter urging authorities to “deal decisively” with protestors. The letter asked “state officials, including the judiciary,” to treat those arrested in the protests as “terrorists, in a way that would serve as a good lesson in the shortest possible time”.

According to IRNA, another state-owned Iranian news agency, members of the parliament chanted “death to the seditionist” after the statement was read aloud on the floor. However, the letter itself did not specify the death penalty or any other mode of punishment. 

Furthermore, according to Iran’s constitution, the parliament and judiciary are distinct branches of the state, independent of each other. Iran’s parliament cannot direct the judiciary to pursue a particular course of action. The letter mentioned above was not a sentence or an order, but rather a request addressed to the judiciary and other state authorities. 

International news agency Newsweek incorrectly reported this news stating that the Iranian parliament had voted in favour of death sentences for imprisoned protestors. The report has since been updated, and Newsweek issued a clarification. However, the incorrect news had already been picked up by social media. 

According to NBC News, prominent personalities like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and American actress Viola Davis stated on their social media that Iranian authorities had given the death penalty to 15,000 prisoners. The figure appears to have come from estimates by the Human Rights Activists News Agency regarding how many protestors have been detained. 

Many prominent platforms have removed the news and issued corrections but the claim can still be found on many news agencies’ websites. UK-based publication, The Mirror, incorrectly states that the Iranian parliament’s letter “demanded” the death penalty for imprisoned protestors. Expat Guide Turkey’s website also still carries an article with the headline “15,000 Protestors Sentenced to Death in Iran”. India’s The National Bulletin similarly reports that Iran issued “mass execution” for 15,000 prisoners.

Last week, the United Nations also released a statement stating that Iran’s parliament had called on the judiciary “to carry out the death penalty punishment”. This is misleading since, as mentioned above, the letter itself did not specify the death penalty. The statement has yet to be corrected or edited. 

While this particular claim may be untrue, several imprisoned protestors have been given the death penalty and more are at risk.. Iran’s revolutionary courts, and justice system, are known to favour security forces and forego the principles of due process. The revolutionary courts in particular have been responsible for passing the bulk of death sentences passed in Iran in the last 40 years.

Earlier this week, the revolutionary courts gave the death penalty to one prisoner. The accused in question allegedly lit a trash can during a protest. Iranian judges sentenced him for “waging far on God” and spreading “corruption on Earth”. After online outrage against this move, the Iranian judiciary issued a statement denying that the sentence was passed. However, since then at least four more people have been given the death penalty. With a thousand protestors already indicted, according to Iranian officials, and thousands more in custody, prisoners are caught in a judicial system that is unlikely to accord them any leniency.

Virality

The claim was initially shared by prominent personalities like actresses Viola Davis and Sophie Turner, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In Pakistan, a similar post by Instagram pages Cocktails and Capitalism and Independent Thought was widely shared. Since the claim has been fact checked widely, these pages have now removed their posts. 

However, a Crowd Tangle search for “Iran parliament death” brought up 202 posts with over 8,000 interactions on Facebook. A similar search for Instagram produced 172 posts with over 800,000 interactions. Claims included assertions that the parliament had sentenced prisoners to death, voted on the death penalty for prisoners, or called upon the judiciary to punish protestors with the death penalty.

Conclusion: News circulating on social media claims that Iranian authorities sentenced 15,000 prisoners to death. Soch Fact Check found this to be misleading. The Iranian parliament released a statement calling on the judiciary to give harsh punishments to imprisoned protestors. The parliament does not hold the power to give sentences, neither did the letter specifically mention the death penalty. However, at the time of publishing, at least four protestors have been given death sentences.