Iran is the first country in the world to apply the death penalty. The authorities have intensified its use in 2023, the year in which the highest number of executions was recorded since 2015. In total, there were 834, which represents 43% more than those registered the previous year. The causes are diverse and the organization Iran Human Rights warns of the increase in executions of women, protesters and young people.
At least eight protesters were executed in Iran, 20 people were sentenced to the death penalty for rape charges, two for blasphemy charges, one for adultery and seven were hanged in public spaces, including a minor under 17 years of age. At least 22 women were executed, the highest number since 2013.
The death penalty in Iran has raised alerts from international human rights organizations. Iran Human Rights prepared a report, like every year, on the use of this penal figure in the Islamic Republic.
The 16th Annual Report, in which the group Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) also participated, reveals that Iranian authorities intensified the use of the death penalty to instill fear in society in the year following the outbreak of the “Women, Life, Freedom” campaign, triggered by the arrest and death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old was arrested by the moral police in 2022 for wearing the veil incorrectly and died in police custody.
The report documents a total of 834 executions in 2023, representing an increase of 43% compared to the previous year. This is the second largest number of documented annual executions in more than 20 years in Iran.
A total of 125 executions, 15%, were announced by official sources, compared to 12% in 2022. 85% of all executions, that is, 709 executions, were not announced by the authorities. At least 471 people, 56%, were executed on drug-related charges, up from 256 in 2022. Furthermore, only 25, 5%, of the 471 drug-related executions were announced by official sources.
Another 282 executions, or 33.8%, were on charges of murder and at least 39 people, including six protesters and a woman, They were executed on security-related charges.
Public hangings triple
The report presents an alarming figure. In 2023, the number of public hangings in Iran tripled compared to 2022, with seven people hanged in public spaces, including one in a beach park.
“Iranian authorities continued to fail in their international obligations by executing minors, and at least two of them were sentenced to death, one of whom was 17 years old at the time of the execution,” the report said.
Mohammad Mehdi Karami, a 22-year-old karate champion, is one of the young men who were hanged. His execution took place on January 7. His crime: participating in protests to demand freedom.
According to the BBC, Mohammad Mehdi Karami would have had just 15 minutes to defend himself before a Revolutionary Court in Karaj. Along with him, 16 other people were also charged, including three children. According to Iranian authorities, they participated in the murder of a member of the Basij paramilitary force.
Seyed Mohammad Hosseini was also hanged on January 7, 2023 for the same cause as Mohammad. He was 39 years old at the time of the execution and was a volunteer children's coach. Before being executed he got an independent lawyer, which is usually very rare in cases like these.
Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani managed to visit him in prison and stated that he was tortured during interrogation. On his Twitter account he had published: “He was completely crying because of the torture and beatings. He had his hands and feet tense and his eyes were blindfolded. They hit him on the head until he was unconscious. They hit him with an iron bar on the soles of his feet and he received electric shocks in different parts of his body. “These confessions obtained through torture have no legal basis.”
After the authorities learned of his complaint, he was charged with “propaganda against the State.” Fortunately, he was temporarily released on bail of 100 million Tomans, the Iranian currency. In addition, he was issued a judicial supervision order, banning him from using Twitter and Instagram for one year.
Executions for “security” reasons
One of those unjustly executed, the report says, for security reasons was the Kurdish prisoner, Mohiyedin Ebrahimi. He was a kolbar, a person who carries merchandise on his back and transports it across the borders of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey legally or illegally.
He was detained by Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) forces in 2017 after being shot in the leg. His brother had died at the hands of law enforcement, when he also worked as a kolbar. In a letter sent to the organization shortly before his execution, Mohiyedin wrote that he was tortured into accepting false charges of possessing firearms and belonging to political groups. Mohiyedin was the breadwinner for 12 people, including a child with a physical disability.
Executions to instill fear
The report mentions that, although the majority of those executed are sentenced to death for common crimes, there is a significant correlation between the timing of executions and the political situation.
According to execution trends recorded in the last two decades, Execution rates typically decline in the weeks leading up to parliamentary and legislative elections, the Nowruz holidays, and the month of Ramadan.
They explain that the first wave of executions began on the eve of International Workers' Day, May 1, which was followed by National Teachers' Day, May 2, a date when protests usually take place throughout the country. The second wave began after the start of the war in Gaza, on October 7.
The organization also mentions that people who are executed are also tortured when they are detained. Although Article 38 of the Iranian Constitution prohibits all forms of torture and forced confessions. Reports collected by Iran Human Rights and other human rights organizations over the years indicate that “torture is widely used against suspects after their arrest and in the pre-trial phase to obtain a confession.”
For example, in the national protests over the arrest and subsequent murder of Mahsa Amini, the organization concluded that “physical torture, sexual assault and rape were not mere isolated incidents, but occurred systematically against protesters to force false and self-incriminating confessions.”
The organization asks international organizations to urge the authorities of the Islamic Republic to achieve the abolition of the death penalty and to pressure to reduce its indiscriminate use only against people who oppose the regime.
In March 2024, at the 55th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, the Independent Mission International (FFMI) will present their conclusions on the atrocities committed by the Islamic Republic since the beginning of the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests.
This year, the human rights situation in Iran will be examined within the framework of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the UN Human Rights Council. Furthermore, they call on all nations to place the death penalty on the agenda of cany dialogue with representatives of the Islamic Republic, and for them to play a more active role in the fight against impunity.
Access the full report: Report on executions in Iran
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