UN report documents upward trend of executions in Iran

A new report presented this week to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva - where the secretary general of the international body, Antonio Guterres, was also present - has reported a worrying increase in death sentences in Iran.

"While 260 people were executed in 2020, and at least 310 in 2021, including 14 women", during the first three months of 2022 "around 105 individuals were executed, most of them belonging to minority groups", said the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif.

These figures corroborate the growing use of the death penalty, even for minor crimes, in line with the predictions of several analysts following the election of the ultra-Orthodox Ebrahim Raisi as president.

In March alone, more than 50 people accused of drug trafficking and drug use and sentenced to death were transferred to Shiraz prison where they were to be executed. "The death penalty continues to be imposed for charges that are not the most serious crimes and in ways that are contrary to fair trial standards," Al-Nashif added.

In this regard, reports of death sentences being imposed on persons under the age of 18 at the time of the verdict represent a further violation of international law. According to the Deputy High Commissioner, between August 2021 and March 2022, at least two juveniles were executed, and more than 85 remained on death row. However, "in February 2022, in a positive development, the Supreme Court decided to revoke the death penalty against juveniles," commended Al-Nashif.

In addition, the situation of instability and social turmoil that the country has been facing for several months now has caused cases of police violence to escalate.

"Excessive use of force is the automatic reaction of the authorities to manage assemblies," Al-Nashif denounced, adding to the worrying number of deaths in jails and prisons, the unnecessary deaths caused by violence against peaceful demonstrators and detainees. Executions that, to date, premeditated or not, have gone unpunished.