Executions surge by 75pc in Iran after anti-government protests

telegraph: Iran recorded a 75 per cent increase in executions last year, according to an annual report by two human rights groups, as Tehran grapples to contain an anti-government protest movement.

On Thursday, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty said that Iran executed at least 582 prisoners in 2022, the highest number since 2015 and a major increase from 333 executions in 2021.

“In 2022, Iran’s authorities demonstrated how crucial the death penalty is to instil societal fear in order to hold onto power,” their annual report on capital punishment in the country said.

The report recorded a particular spike in executions after a nationwide anti-government protest movement began in September following the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic republic’s public dress code.

Since then four people have been executed for crimes related to protesting, at least 20 protesters have been sentenced to death in preliminary trials and more than 100 remain at risk of capital punishment.

The report credited international pressure and targeted sanctions with “raising the political cost of executing protesters,” but said that “in response” authorities intensified the execution of prisoners convicted of non-political charges.

At least 127 people were executed in November and December 2022 on drug and murder charges. So far this year, Iran has executed 151 prisoners, according to IHR.

“International reactions to the death sentences against protesters have made it difficult for the Islamic republic to proceed with their executions,” said Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam, IHR’s director.

“To compensate, and in order to spread fear among people, the authorities have intensified the execution for non-political charges. These are the low-cost victims of the Islamic republic’s execution machine,” he added.

Fewer than 12 per cent of executions were announced publicly by the government, the report said, calling it the greatest lack of transparency in the use of capital punishment in the past decade.

All of the executions were by hanging, two of which were carried out in public, including protester Majidreza Rahnavard, the report said. At least three juvenile offenders were among those executed while at least 16 women were hanged.

The report cited the use of forced confessions extracted under torture, denial of access to lawyers, due process and fair trials, and the lack of an independent judiciary as of particular concern in death penalty cases.

It cited the case of Mohsen Shekari who was arrested during protests in September and sentenced to death in a “show trial” after he said he was tortured into signing confessions without a lawyer present. He was executed in December, just 75 days after his arrest.