A minimum of 22 ladies had been executed, marking the very best quantity prior to now decade. (File)

Paris:

Iran executed a “staggering” complete of no less than 834 individuals final yr, the very best quantity since 2015 as capital punishment surged within the Islamic republic, two rights teams stated Tuesday.

The variety of executions, which Iran has carried out by hanging in recent times, was up some 43 % on 2022.

It marked solely the second time in twenty years that over 800 executions had been recorded in a yr, after 972 executions in 2015, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Collectively Towards the Dying Penalty stated within the joint report.

The teams accused Iran of utilizing the loss of life penalty to unfold concern all through society within the wake of the protests sparked by the September 2022 loss of life in police custody of Mahsa Amini that shook the authorities.

“Instilling societal concern is the regime’s solely solution to maintain on to energy, and the loss of life penalty is its most essential instrument,” stated IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam within the report, which described the determine of 834 as a “staggering complete”.

Iran has executed 9 males in instances linked to assaults on safety forces through the 2022 protests — two in 2022, six in 2023 and one to this point in 2024 — based on the rights teams.

However executions have been stepped up on different fees, notably in drug-related instances, which had till current years seen a fall.

“Of explicit concern is the dramatic escalation within the variety of drug-related executions in 2023, which rose to 471 individuals, greater than 18 occasions greater than the figures recorded in 2020,” stated the report.

Members of ethnic minorities, notably the Sunni Baluch from the southeast of Iran, are “grossly overrepresented amongst these executed” on drug-related fees, it stated.

A minimum of 167 members of the Baluch minority had been executed in complete, accounting for 20 % of the overall executions in 2023, although the minority accounts for under round 5 % of Iran’s inhabitants.

‘Incorrect sign’

ECPM director Raphael Chenuil-Hazan stated the “lack of response” by the United Nations Workplace on Medicine and Crime (UNODC) was sending “the mistaken sign to the Iranian authorities”.

Most hangings in Iran are carried out inside the confines of jail however the report stated that in 2023 the variety of hangings carried out in public in Iran tripled from 2022, with seven individuals hanged in public areas.

A minimum of 22 ladies had been executed, marking the very best quantity prior to now decade, the report stated.

Fifteen of them had been hanged on homicide fees and NGOs have lengthy warned that girls who kill an abusive associate or relative danger being hanged.

In 2023, solely 15 % of the recorded executions had been introduced by official Iranian media, with IHR confirming the opposite executions with its personal sources.

Amiry-Moghaddam expressed concern {that a} lack of worldwide outrage on the executions, specifically with consideration centered on the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas, was solely encouraging the Islamic republic to hold out extra hangings.

“The inconsistency within the worldwide group’s response to the executions in Iran is unlucky and sends the mistaken sign to the authorities,” he stated.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)