Amnesty deplores ‘horrifying surge’ in Iranian executions

Amnesty International said that 853 executions were carried out in Iran last year, with at least 481 executions for narcotics convictions. (file photo)

Executions in Iran hit an eight-year high in 2023, according to Amnesty International, more than half of which came for drug-related convictions, which the rights group said highlights the “disproportionate impact of the authorities’ lethal anti-narcotics policies on poor and marginalized communities.”

Amnesty said in a report released on April 4 that 853 executions were carried out in Iran last year, with at least 481 executions for narcotics convictions.

“The death penalty is abhorrent in all circumstances, but deploying it on a mass scale for drug-related offenses after grossly unfair trials before Revolutionary Courts is a grotesque abuse of power,” Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said.

“The Islamic republic’s deadly anti-narcotics policies are contributing to a cycle of poverty and systemic injustice, and further entrenching discrimination against marginalized communities, in particular Iran’s oppressed [Baluch] minority,” Eltahawy added.

The Amnesty report also accuses the government of “weaponizing the death penalty” to target “protesters, dissidents, and members of oppressed ethnic minorities” and called for “a robust global response” to pressure Tehran to implement a moratorium on the death penalty.

After a national wave of protests swept the country in the second half of 2022, Amnesty wrote, “the Iranian authorities also intensified the use of the death penalty as a weapon to quash dissent.”

The number of executions in Iran in 2023 was the highest since 2015 and 172 percent higher that in 2021, when Ebrahim Raisi became president and Gholamhossein Ejei was made head of the judiciary, Amnesty said in the report.

The Iranian government does not publish official statistics on the number of executions, and Amnesty worked with Iranian rights groups to document cases using open sources such as state media and human rights organizations.

At least 95 executions were reported in 2024 by March 20, the rights group said, adding it believes the real number of executions in Iran is higher.

RFERL