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Iran has carried out the highest number of executions in three decades as part of a “mass killing campaign”, a new report has found.
More than 1,000 people were executed between January and September this year, according to the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IRN). An estimated 64 hangings were carried out last week alone.
The figure is likely to be an underestimate due to restrictions on reporting, the IRN said. Executions are thought to have spiked following Iran’s 12-day war with Israel earlier this year, as officials ordered a crackdown on alleged spies acting for Israel.
“In recent months the Islamic Republic has begun a mass killing campaign in Iran’s prisons, the dimensions of which, in the absence of serious international reactions, are expanding every day,” said the group’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
“The widespread, arbitrary executions of prisoners without due process and fair trial rights amount to crimes against humanity and must be placed at the top of the international community’s agenda regarding the Islamic Republic.”
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He said: “Any dialogue between countries committed to the foundations of human rights and the Islamic Republic that does not include the execution crisis in Iran is unacceptable.”
A woman holds a portrait of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari, who was sentenced to death in 2020(ANP/AFP via Getty Images)
According to the IRN, half of the executions were for drug-related offences, 43 per cent for murder, 3 per cent for security-related charges and 1 per cent for espionage for Israel. Only 11 per cent of executions were announced officially while none of the drug-related executions have been announced.
Iran has been criticised for its use of capital punishment, with activists and rights groups alleging that torture has been used to force confessions of guilt.
Last week, father-of-two Babak Shahbazi was executed for allegedly spying for Israel. Human rights groups said he was tortured into admitting to gathering and selling sensitive information about Iranian data centres to Israel.
They say he had been arrested for writing a letter offering his support to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky. Iran has supplied Russia with weapons for the conflict.
Earlier this year, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Ravina Shamadasani, urged Iran to commit to a moratorium on the death penalty after reporting that 841 people had been killed in the period from 1 January to 28 August this year.
“The high number of executions indicates a systematic pattern of using death penalty as a tool of State intimidation, with disproportionate targeting of ethnic minorities and migrants,” said Shamadasani last month.
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“The death penalty is incompatible with the right to life and irreconcilable with human dignity. It creates an unacceptable risk of executing innocent people. It should never be imposed for conduct that is protected under international human rights law.
“We call on the Government of Iran not to implement the death penalty against these and other individuals on death row.”