Iran executed at the least 834 folks final 12 months, a brand new document since 2015, two human rights teams stated on Tuesday, as capital punishment ramps up within the nation.
The variety of executions elevated by about 43 % in comparison with 2022 figures, in line with an annual report printed by the Norway-based Iranian Human Rights Organization (IHRNGO) and the Paris-based Movement Against the Death Penalty (ECPM). . This is the primary time in 20 years that greater than 800 executions have been recorded in a 12 months, following 972 executions in 2015.
The determine is consistent with a United Nations report launched in January that discovered 834 folks can be executed in 2023, and suggests the quantity might rise additional. The assertion claimed it was an “unprecedented improve” by which “at the least” 834 folks have been executed, together with eight folks linked to nationwide protests.
The variety of public hangings in Iran tripled in 2023 in comparison with 2022, with seven folks hanged in public locations resembling seaside parks, in line with the rights group’s newest report. Iran additionally violated its worldwide obligations by executing juvenile offenders, leading to at the least two juveniles being put to dying, one in all whom was 17 years previous on the time of the execution. At least 22 girls have been executed, the best quantity in a decade.
The majority of these executed have been convicted of drug-related crimes. But the report additionally stated eight protesters have been executed in 2023 after being convicted in “grossly unfair trials” that lacked due course of. Human rights teams say a surge in executions will erupt in 2022 after 22-year-old Martha Amini was arrested for carrying an “inappropriate” hijab and killed in police custody throughout the nation. He stated the purpose was to intimidate Iranians in opposition to additional protests following the size of the violence. This nation’s public morals police. At least two folks have been executed for “insulting the Prophet of Islam.”
The report stated ethnic minorities, notably members of the Sunni Baluch tribe in southeastern Iran, “represented a big majority of these executed” on drug-related fees. In whole, at the least 167 Baluch minorities have been executed, accounting for 20 % of the overall variety of executions in 2023, although the Baluch minority solely makes up about 5 % of Iran’s inhabitants.
The report famous that the rise in executions in Iran is a part of broader human rights violations by the federal government. The report asserted {that a} lack of worldwide consideration to Iran’s human rights scenario has fueled the Iranian regime’s continued repression of opposition.
Activists additionally identified that Iran capitalized on the world’s consideration to the conflict by executing at the least 176 folks within the two months following Hamas’ October 7 invasion of Israel. “The common variety of executions per day in Gaza elevated from two per day earlier than the conflict to a mean of three to 4 per day in the course of the conflict,” stated Mahmoud Amiri Moghaddam, head of Iran’s Human Rights Bureau.
“The Iranian regime makes use of the dying penalty to delay its survival. We are coping with a regime that’s repressive, corrupt, and incapable of fixing the on a regular basis issues of its folks. Instilling worry is the one manner a regime can preserve energy, and the dying penalty is its most vital device.
The Iranian authorities defends the introduction of the dying penalty, saying it’s essential to discourage crime. However, human rights teams say the dying penalty is commonly used as a device of political repression.