A recent report from the United Nations highlights a significant increase in executions in Iran for the month of August, causing alarm among human rights specialists who are calling on the nation’s government to cease this unjust practice.
The United Nations experts, including special rapporteurs on human rights affairs, expressed their deep worry in a release from the Human Rights High Commissioner’s Office. They reported, “We are deeply concerned by this sharp rise in executions.” The report disclosed, “According to information received, of the 93 executions in August, only a fraction is officially reported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, highlighting the urgent need for transparency,” as per the experts’ findings.
The U.N. noted that almost half the executions last month were for purported drug-related offenses, a move the experts argue violates “international standards.” They emphasized, “Countries that retain the death penalty must ensure that individuals are not subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment throughout the criminal justice process.” Further, the experts cautioned, “Wrongful executions are irreversible.
The current implementation of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran leaves us extremely concerned that innocent individuals may have been executed,” and reiterated their call for a halt to executions, “We renew our appeal to Iranian authorities to halt executions of all individuals sentenced to death.”
Drug-related infractions are increasingly becoming the pretext for executions by the Iranian government, reaching a peak not seen in eight years, as noted by Amnesty International. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which includes Iran as a signatory, reserves the death penalty for only the “most serious crimes,” excluding drug offenses.
Amnesty International, in a report from earlier in the year, noted that the rise in executions followed the disturbances of 2022, triggered by the suspicious death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after an interaction with the morality police concerning her hijab.
According to Amnesty International, this surge in executions serves more as a tactic of coercion rather than punishment, aiming to “instill fear among the population and tighten their grip on power.”
With over 400 individuals, including more than a dozen women already executed this year, Iran is on course to reach approximately 850 executions by the end of 2023, many of whom are political adversaries. Behnam Ben Taleblu, from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, shared with Fox News Digital, “Never-mind the change at the top: Musical chairs between Iranian presidents has had zero bearing on the plight of the Iranian people to include rights violations and executions at home.”
He continued, “Tehran’s true face is on display here. A rise in executions including for alleged drug-related offenses is a feature, not a bug, of the vision the Islamic Republic has for order at home.” He pointed out prevalent issues in the judicial process, “Show trials, forced confessions, and violations of due process feature all too prominently in these death sentence cases.”
The U.N. spotlighted the case of Reza Rasaei, an Iranian-Kurdish protester, who faced execution based on a “confession reportedly obtained through torture.” According to accusations, Rasaei was implicated in the death of a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, even as co-defendants withdrew their accusations and a forensic examiner questioned Rasaei’s involvement. Special rapporteurs, as part of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, conduct investigative and monitoring tasks regarding both specific national situations and global thematic concerns.
