Iran Human Rights Organization says that in January alone, at least 46 people were executed in the prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is a significant increase compared to last year.
The NGO, which has been a member of the Global Coalition Against the Death Penalty since 2009, in a recent report condemned the Islamic Republic’s execution and called on the international community to address the deteriorating human rights situation and increase executions in Iran.
According to the report, published on Thursday, February 5, a comparison of executions in January 2022 with similar periods in at least the last four years shows that the number of executions has increased “significantly.”
Meanwhile, the Iranian media and official sources have reported “only six executions” in recent weeks, and another 40 prisoners have been “independently” approved by the Iranian Human Rights Organization.
According to the organization, out of 46 executed prisoners, 17 were sentenced to death on “drug-related” charges and 21 prisoners were sentenced to retaliation on “premeditated murder” charges. Fifteen of those executed in January were Baluchis from Sistan and Baluchestan.
This statistic is announced while in the same period of 2021, 27 executions, in 2020, 33 executions and in 2019, 36 executions were registered in the prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
According to human rights defenders, these verdicts are often issued and enforced following an “unfair” trial. For example, according to international law, access to a lawyer is the right of all defendants from the beginning of their detention, but the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran violates this law.
The Human Rights Organization of Iran reminds that during the nuclear talks in 2015, “the number of executions had increased sharply due to the lack of international attention to human rights violations in Iran.”
In this regard, Mahmoud Amiri Moghaddam, the founder of the Human Rights Organization of Iran, said that “the issue of the death penalty should be at the forefront of any negotiations between the international community and the Islamic Republic”, adding: “Let the wave of executions end in Iran.”
Earlier, on December 16 of this year, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the human rights situation in Iran. One of the concerns raised in this resolution is the continued use of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran for minors. The adopters of this resolution have called on the authorities of the Islamic Republic to stop the execution of children.