Use of the demise penalty surged by 43 % following large protests prompted by Mahsa Amini’s demise.
Iran hanged at the least 834 individuals in 2023, the second-highest variety of executions in twenty years, in response to a report launched by rights teams.
The report, launched on Tuesday by Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), means that the 43 % spike in the usage of capital punishment final 12 months got here in response to nationwide protests prompted by the demise in police custody of Mahsa Amini in 2022.
However, whereas 9 executions have been immediately linked to assaults on safety forces in the course of the 2022 protests, the usage of capital punishment was additionally stepped up in relation to different fees. Drug-related circumstances accounted for greater than half of the entire, with 471 individuals executed on such fees.
The report additionally notes that members of ethnic minorities, notably the Sunni Baluch from the southeast of Iran, have been “grossly overrepresented amongst those executed”.
At least 167 members of the Baluch minority have been put to demise, accounting for 20 % of the entire final 12 months. The minority accounts for about 5 % of Iran’s inhabitants.
IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam described the figures as a “staggering total”.
“Instilling societal fear is the regime’s only way to hold on to power, and the death penalty is its most important instrument,” he stated.
He additionally slammed the dearth of worldwide outrage at Tehran’s enthusiasm for executions.
“The inconsistency in the international community’s reaction to the executions in Iran is unfortunate and sends the wrong signal to the authorities,” he stated.
Last 12 months, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk stated the flurry of demise sentences following the outbreak of civil unrest amounted to “state-sanctioned killing”.
According to the report, whereas most executions occur inside the confines of jail, seven have been carried out in public – considerably greater than in 2022.
At least 22 ladies have been executed final 12 months, marking the best quantity previously decade, the report added.
Fifteen have been hanged on homicide fees. NGOs have lengthy warned that girls who kill an abusive companion or relative danger execution.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/5/iran-executed-834-people-last-year-highest-since-2015-rights-groups?traffic_source=rss
