Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] has found in a report [report, PDF] released Wednesday that Iranian authorities have been using propaganda in order to dehumanize executions. The report, “Broadcasting injustice, boasting of mass killings,” found [press release] that Iran had used propaganda in order to dehumanize executions in the eyes of the public and divert attention from the trials that led to the death sentences. AI uncovered that after authorities executed 25 Sunni men accused of involvement in an armed group, the state flooded media outlets with videos of forced confessions to “justify the executions.” The authorities dramatized these videos or greater effect with sensationalized headlines and musical backgrounds. Furthermore, some of the videos were given a movie like feel with various captions. Many of the men in the videos claimed they were forced to give the confessions after month of torture including, being kicked, punched, beaten with electric batons, flogged, and deprived of sleep, food and medication. Others claimed they were given written text to memorize that they were told to say during the “confessions.” There are also inconsistencies with the confessions such as some of the men being linked to and confessing to crimes that occurred after they had been arrested. The men were ultimately convicted as an “emnity against God” through “membership of a Sunni Salafist group” and carrying out armed attacks and assassinations.

Much international pressure has been directed toward Iran in recent years for its human rights abuses. In August the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights criticized [JURIST report] Iran for the mass execution of 20 people due to the lack of fairness in their trials. In March UN rights experts expressed concern [JURIST report] over the overwhelming number of juvenile executions in Iran. Last October UN human rights experts condemned [JURIST report] Iran’s execution of a juvenile offender convicted of murdering her husband whom she was forced to marry at the age of 16. She was executed despite several reports of flaws in her trial and appeals process. In May of last year UN human rights experts condemned [JURIST report] the growing number of executions in Iran in recent years. According to the Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Iran and on extrajudicial executions, Iran had executed approximately six people per day between April 9 and April 26 and 350 total up to that point.