The number of executions in Iran rose sharply in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. By the end of June, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization (IHRNGO) had documented 354 executions. By 2022, 261 people had been executed by that date.
“The death penalty is being used to create social fear and prevent more protests,” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the organization.
Iran has executed seven people arrested during protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman who was arrested by vice police for violating the dress code for women in public. In the first half of 2023, Iranian authorities also executed 206 people for drug crimes.
Members of ethnic minorities in particular were often sentenced to death, the report shows. Human rights group Amnesty International also recently accused the authorities in Iran of using the death penalty as an “tool of oppression” against ethnic minorities.
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