Iranian authorities reportedly executed 901 people last year, including about 40 in one week in December, the United Nations rights chief said Tuesday.
“We are once again deeply concerned that we see an increase in the number of people under the death penalty in Iran year after year,” said Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. .That compares to at least 853 people executed in Iran in 2023.
“It is time for Iran to stop this escalation of executions,” Turk said in a statement.
Iran uses capital punishment for serious crimes including murder, drug trafficking, rape and sexual assault.
Activists are increasingly worried about the increase in executions in Iran.
The Islamic republic executes more people each year than any other country except China, where reliable figures are not available, according to human rights groups including Amnesty International.
They accuse the authorities under the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of use of capital punishment as a tool to instill fear throughout society, especially during 2022-2023 protests across the country.
The UN rights office said most executions last year were for drug-related crimes, but said “dissidents and people linked to the 2022 protests were also executed.” “
“There was also an increase in the number of women executed,” the office said.
IHR said in a report on Monday that at least 31 women were executed in Iran in 2024.
Iran does not publish official data on executions, but UN rights office spokeswoman Liz Throssell told reporters the team had gathered figures from several reliable rights groups that monitor the t -position, including HRANA, Hengaw and Human Rights Iran based in Norway.
“We are confident about the number,” she said.
The largest number of executions in Iran in recent decades was recorded in 2015, when at least 972 people were executed.
After that, the numbers decreased after the reform of Iran's anti-narcotics law in 2017, but Throssell warned that “from 2022 the numbers have increased significantly.”
“The number for 2024 is obviously very, very high,” Throssell said.
Turk emphasized that his office was against “the death penalty in all circumstances.”
“It is inconsistent with the fundamental right to life and raises the undue risk of executing innocent people,” he said. “And, to be clear, it cannot be shall never be applied for conduct protected under international human rights law.”
The UN rights chief urged the Iranian authorities to halt further executions, and to impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to its eventual abolition.
Some 170 states have either abolished the death penalty or put a moratorium on its use.
