New one United Nations The report said that there has been a rise in the number of executions in Iran in the month of August, due to which experts have urged the country’s government to stop this illegal practice.
“We are deeply concerned by the rising number of executions,” UN experts, including the Special Rapporteur on human rights, said in a press release issued by the UN Human Rights Office. High Commissioner for Human Rights,
“According to the information received, only a fraction of the 93 executions carried out in August have been officially reported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which highlights the urgent need for transparency,” the experts said.
The United Nations reported that nearly half of all executions carried out last month were for alleged drug-related offences, which experts stressed was against “international standards”.
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“Countries that retain the death penalty should ensure that individuals are not subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment during the criminal justice process,” the experts said.
Picturesque displays of gallows with a placard reading “Pro-Execution Day” are displayed in front of the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) during a demonstration by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Berlin on February 10, 2024. (Stephanie Luce/AFP via Getty Images)
“Wrongful executions are irreversible. We are deeply concerned that the current implementation of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran may result in the execution of innocent individuals,” the experts said. “We reiterate our call on the Iranian authorities to halt the executions of all persons sentenced to death,”
Drug-related crimes have become the leading cause of executions by the Iranian government, the highest in the past eight years. According to Amnesty InternationalThe International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Iran is a member, limits the death penalty to only the “most serious crimes,” which does not include drug-related offenses.
The non-profit organisation alleged in a report released earlier this year that executions in Iran have begun to rise following the 2022 unrest. 22 year old Mahsa Amini diedWho died under suspicious circumstances after a clash with Iran’s morality police because she was allegedly not wearing the hijab properly.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attends the ceremony held at Imam Khomeini Husseiniya to commemorate Arbaeen on August 25, 2024 in Tehran, Iran. (Iran Supreme Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
In the report, Amnesty International described Iran’s use of the death penalty not as a means of punishment but as a means of intimidation, an attempt to “instill fear in the public and consolidate its grip on power”.
Iran has executed more than 400 people this year, including more than a dozen women – putting the country on track to become one of the countries with the most executions in the world. About 850 people will be hanged in 2023Most of these punished political dissidents.
People attend a demonstration organized by the “Women Lives Freedom” movement to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini in Paris on September 16, 2023. (Amir Alhalbi/Getty Images)
“Forget about the change at the top: the musical chairs battle between Iranian presidents has had no impact on the plight of the Iranian people, which includes rights violations and executions at home,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
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“The true face of Tehran is on display here,” Taleblu argued. “The rise in executions, including for alleged drug-related crimes, is a feature of the Islamic Republic’s approach to domestic order, not a flaw.”
“Sham trials, forced confessions and violations of due process figure prominently in these death penalty cases,” he said.
Members of the Iranian expatriate community, activists, gather in front of the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin during the “Unite against executions in Iran” protest on January 27, 2024. (Echo Iran/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The UN highlighted the case of an Iranian-Kurdish protester named Reza Rasaei, who was punished by authorities based on an “alleged confession”. obtained through torture,
The government alleged that Rasaei was involved in the death of a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and sought to sentence him to death even after co-defendants recanted their statements about his involvement and the forensic medical examiner challenged Rasaei’s involvement.
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Special Rapporteurs serve as part of the Human Rights Council’s Special Procedures Group, carrying out fact-finding missions and “monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world.”
