Amnesty International (AI) and another human rights organization today denounced a “wave of executions” in Iran and called for an end to the executions. In the first half of 2022, the Iranian authorities “executed at least one person a day,” criticized Diana Eltahawy, who is responsible for North Africa and the Middle East at Amnesty.
According to a joint statement by AI and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran, at least 251 people were executed in the country from January to the end of June. The actual number is therefore likely to be higher.
“Mass killings across the country”
If executions continue “at this appalling rate,” they would soon surpass the 314 executions for all of last year, it said. “The state apparatus is carrying out mass killings across the country,” Eltahawy said. This is a “despicable attack on the right to life”.
It said 146 cases involved convicted murderers. At least 86 other people have been executed in connection with drug-related offences. The two organizations explained that the death penalty in Iran was imposed in “systematically unjust” trials. Confessions are often extracted under torture.
