853 were executed in Iran in 2023

Rights group Amnesty International reported that 853 people were executed in Iran in 2023, a record number in the last eight years.

Amnesty International announced that execution is used as a tool of political repression by the Iranian government which may continue its juggernaut to execute thousands more in the coming years if there is no robust response from the international community.

According to the report, 481 executions, more than half of the total recorded in 2023, were for drug-related offences as the regime beefs up its lethal anti-narcotics policy which can impact poor and marginalized communities in Iran.

Since the 2022 nationwide uprising triggered by the death in morality-police custody of Mahsa Amini, the Iranian government has intensified the use of the death penalty to sow terror among the people and consolidate its grip on power, Amnesty International said.

The number of executions in Iran in 2023 is the highest recorded since 2015, representing a 48% increase from 2022 and a 172% increase from 2021. The trend has continued in 2024, with at least 95 executions recorded until March 20.

At least six of the executed in 2023 were protesters arrested during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in 2022, and one other executed in connection to the nationwide uprising in November 2019. The Iranian government also executed at least two social media users on charges of “apostasy” and “insulting the Prophet of Islam” in their social media posts.