An Iranian medical body slammed a contentious decision made by the cleric-led country’s head of judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, to repurpose the bodies of those sentenced to death for organ donation as unethical.
Mahmoud Amiri Muqaddam, spokesman for Iranian human rights organizations, told Asharq Al-Awsat that despite the “remarkable decline in the number of executions,” Iran remains among the world’s top countries to carry out executions, especially that of minors.
The official IRNA news agency quoted Mahmoud Abbasi, head of the Iranian Parliament Committee on Health, blasting the draft law as unethical and warned of the consequences of undermining the country's position, saying it compromises its political and international dignity and wrongly influences its medical reputation.
Hopes of Iranian activists, especially those advocating for rights of prisoners, are gradually dissipating concerning transformative changes taking place in Iran's judiciary, just months after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed Raisi, a hardliner, as chief justice to succeed Larijani.
Activists continue to protest Raisi’s decision for weeks despite Abbasi, in a press release, saying that Article 47 of the new Penal Code is subject to a law co-written by the Ministries of Justice and Health.
Abbasi, however, underscored that the wording of the law will not affect its implementation.
He also revealed that it “would not have been passed if the Cabinet hadn’t discussed it.”
The controversial decision, however, is expected to shed more light on Raisi’s political career, especially after having lost to President Hassan Rouhani in the 2013 elections.
Raisi ran as the country’s ultra-hardliners main candidate and was known for having close ties to the country’s Revolutionary Guards, which was designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization.
The Revolutionary Guards is a branch of Iran's Armed Forces, however, it solely answers to orders issued by Khamenei.
