Amnesty’s new report reveals how Iranian authorities stepped up executions to instill fear among the population and consolidate their power following the “Women – Life – Freedom” protests that swept the country in 2022. The report also makes alarming findings about the authorities’ brutal anti-drug policies, as well as about the oppression of minorities and marginalized groups of society.
The number of executions in 2023 was the highest recorded since 2015 and represents a 48% increase from 2022. Compared to 2021, executions increased by even 172%. By March 20 of this year, at least 95 executions had been recorded. The death tolls recorded by Amnesty are the minimum verifiable figures, the actual number of executions in Iran is probably higher.
“The Islamic Republic’s deadly drug policy is contributing to a cycle of poverty, systemic injustice and further entrenching discrimination against marginalized communities, particularly Iran’s oppressed Baloch minority,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa
Last year also saw a wave of executions of anti-government protesters, social media users critical of the country’s authoritarian leadership and Iranian dissidents. They were often accused of “insulting the prophet” and “apostasy”, many of them also faced vague accusations of “enmity against God” or spreading “corruption on earth”.
“Among those executed are protesters, dissidents and members of oppressed ethnic minorities, as the authorities introduced the death penalty in a concerted effort to sow fear among the public and suppress dissent. Without a strong global response, Iranian authorities will feel emboldened to execute thousands more people with complete impunity in the coming years.”
– Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa
The shocking findings of violations of the right to life underscore the urgent need for the international community to press the Iranian authorities for an immediate moratorium on all executions. As the UN Human Rights Council votes this week on whether to renew the mandates of the investigative mission on Iran and the special rapporteur on Iran, it is crucial to send a signal to the authorities there that the international community is not indifferent to their human rights abuses. An international independent investigative mechanism to gather and analyze evidence of crimes under international law must also remain in place.
Iran’s Revolutionary Courts issued 520 death sentences in 2023. These courts have jurisdiction over a wide range of offences, including drug-related offences, which the authorities consider a threat to “national security”. Iran’s courts also lack independence and operate under the influence of security and intelligence agencies, routinely ruling on the basis of confessions extracted by torture. He often passes judgments after grossly unfair and shortened trials.
Increase in drug-related executions
The increase in executions in 2023 is largely due to a disturbing shift in Iran’s anti-drug policy following Ebrahim Raisi’s assumption of the presidency and the appointment of Gholamhossein Eje’i as head of the judiciary. Both came into office in 2021.
Amnesty International analyzed official statements from top executive and judicial authorities publicly criticizing the 2017 drug law reforms leading to a dramatic drop in drug-related executions between 2018 and 2020, and calling for greater use of the death penalty in the fight against drugs.
These official positions have changed since 2021, and the number of executions in the country has taken a frightening upward trajectory. In 2023, 481 people were executed for drug-related crimes, representing 56% of the total number of executions. This is an 89% increase from 2022, when 255 people were executed for drug-related offences. And compared to 2021, when 132 people were executed for drug-related crimes, this is a 264% increase
Iran’s Baloch minority accounted for 29% (138) of those executed for drug-related crimes in 2023, making up only about 5% of Iran’s population. This shows the discriminatory effect of the authorities’ anti-drug strategy on the most marginalized and poor communities.
“The death penalty is inhumane under all circumstances, but its mass deployment for drug-related crimes, and after grossly unfair trials in revolutionary courts, is a terrible abuse of power.”
– Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa
Individuals executed for drug-related offenses were often brutally executed in secret without prior notification to their families or lawyers.
Without urgent action from the international community, executions will continue to rise amid ongoing judicial, legislative and executive efforts to enact a deadly new drug law that, if enacted, would expand the range of penalties for drug crimes, including the death penalty.
Executions as a tool of political oppression
Following the September-December 2022 “Woman Life Freedom” uprising, Iranian authorities intensified the use of the death penalty also as a weapon to suppress dissent.
In 2023, authorities executed six men in connection with the 2022 uprising and one man in connection with the nationwide protests in November 2019. At least seven other people have been sentenced to death and face imminent death in connection with the 2022 uprising and November 2019 protests execution.
The increase in executions has led some death row inmates to go on hunger strike and publicly plead for intervention to halt their death sentences.
In May 2023, days before their execution after grossly unfair trials, protesters Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi smuggled a note out of prison asking for help: “Please don’t let them kill us.”
On January 28, 2024, another group of inmates on death row wrote an open letter announcing their hunger strike and asking for support to save their lives. “Perhaps with your help these executions can be stopped. In whatever way you can, be our voice…”
Executions of those arrested as children
Last year also saw a shocking escalation in the use of the death penalty against child prisoners, with the execution of one 17-year-old boy and four youths convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18.
Hamidreza Azari was arrested when he was just 16 years old and executed less than seven months later after a grossly unfair and rushed trial. Iranian authorities deliberately misrepresented his age in domestic media to avoid responsibility for violating international law, which prohibits the imposition of the death penalty on persons under the age of 18 at the time of the crime.
In addition, in recent months the authorities have misleadingly promoted a new directive from the Chief Justice as a step to “further reduce” the death penalty for child offenders. However, Amnesty International’s analysis reveals that the guidelines fail to address long-standing inherent flaws in juvenile laws and reaffirm that judges can continue to sentence child offenders to death after making a flawed “maturity assessment”.
Amnesty International has repeatedly urged the Iranian authorities to amend Article 91 of the Islamic Penal Code and abolish the death penalty for crimes committed by children in all circumstances.
Finding the numbers executed
Iranian authorities refuse to provide public statistics on death sentences and executions. In recording the number of executions carried out in 2023, Amnesty International worked closely with the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center and drew on open sources, including reports from state media, independent media and human rights organisations. The organization also reviewed the execution logs of Iran Human Rights and Kurdistan Human Rights Network.
The death penalty is cruel, inhuman and degrading. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception.