A new United Nations report determined that executions surged in Iran during the month of August, leading experts to urge the country’s government to stop the unlawful spree.
“We are deeply concerned by this sharp rise in executions,” U.N. experts, including special rapporteurs on human rights, said in a press release from the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights.
“According to information received, of the 93 executions in August, only a fraction is officially reported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, highlighting the urgent need for transparency,” the experts added.
The U.N. reported that nearly half of all executions carried out last month occurred in response to alleged drug offenses, which the experts stressed went against “international standards.”
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“Countries that retain the death penalty must ensure that individuals are not subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment throughout the criminal justice process,” the experts said.
Portraits are exhibited behind a noose as a placard reads “Executions pro day” in front of the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) during a demonstration by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Berlin on Feb. 10, 2024. (Stefanie Loos/AFP via Getty Images)
“Wrongful executions are irreversible. The current implementation of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran leaves us extremely concerned that innocent individuals may have been executed,” the experts added. “We renew our appeal to Iranian authorities to halt executions of all individuals sentenced to death,”
Drug offenses have become a leading rationale for the Iranian government to carry out executions, which have hit an eight-year high, according to Amnesty International. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which counts Iran among its members, limits the death penalty to only the “most serious crimes,” which does not include drug offenses.
The non-profit alleges in a report released earlier this year that Iran’s executions started to increase following the 2022 unrest that resulted from the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died under suspicious circumstances after a clash with Iran’s morality police due to allegedly not correctly wearing her hijab headscarf.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attends a ceremony at Imam Khomeini Husseinya to commemorate Arbaeen in Tehran, Iran on Aug. 25, 2024. (Iran’s Supreme Leader Press Office / HANDOUT/Anadolu via Getty Images)
In the report, Amnesty International characterizes Iran’s use of executions not as a tool of punishment but of intimidation, seeking to “instill fear among the population and tighten their grip on power.”
Iran this year has executed over 400 people, including over a dozen women – putting the country on track to match the roughly 850 executions in 2023, most of which punished political dissidents.
People take part in a demonstration organized by the “Women’s Life Freedom” movement to mark the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death on Sept. 16, 2023 in Paris. (Ameer Alhalbi/Getty Images)
“Never-mind the change at the top: Musical chairs between Iranian presidents has had zero bearing on the plight of the Iranian people to include rights violations and executions at home,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
“Tehran’s true face is on display here,” Taleblu argued. “A rise in executions including for alleged drug-related offenses is a feature, not a bug, of the vision the Islamic Republic has for order at home.”
“Show trials, forced confessions, and violations of due process feature all too prominently in these death sentence cases,” he added.
Iranian members of the diaspora, activists, gathered in front of the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin during the “United Against Executions in Iran” protest on Jan. 27, 2024. (Echo Iran/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The U.N. highlighted the case of Reza Rasaei, an Iranina-Kurdish protester whom authorities punished based on a “confession reportedly obtained through torture.”
The government alleged that Rasaei was involved in the death of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member, and it pursued execution even after co-defendants retracted their testimonies about his involvement and a forensic medical examiner challenging Rasaei’s involvement.
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The special rapporteurs serve as part of the Special Procedures group on the Human Rights Council, pursuing fact-finding missions and monitoring “mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world.”
