Iran reportedly executed at least 901 people in 2024, UN says

At slightest 901 radical were reportedly executed successful Iran past year, including astir 40 successful a azygous week successful December, according to the UN quality rights chief.

"It is profoundly disturbing that yet again we spot an summation successful the fig of radical subjected to the decease punishment successful Iran year-on-year," Volker Türk said. "It is precocious clip Iran stemmed this ever-swelling tide of executions."

The full is the highest recorded successful 9 years and marks a 6% summation from 2023, erstwhile 853 radical were executed.

Most of the executions were for drug-related offences, but dissidents and radical connected to the 2022 protests were besides executed, according to the UN. There was besides a emergence successful the fig of women executed.

Türk urged Iranian authorities to halt each further executions and to spot a moratorium connected the usage of the decease punishment with a presumption to yet abolishing it.

"The decease punishment is incompatible with the cardinal close to beingness and raises the unacceptable hazard of executing guiltless people. And, to beryllium clear, it tin ne'er beryllium imposed for behaviour that is protected nether planetary quality rights law," helium warned.

A spokeswoman for the UN quality rights bureau told reporters that its figures had travel from respective organisations which it considered reliable, including Iran's Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Hengaw.

On Monday, Norway-based IHR said successful a report that successful astatine slightest 31 women were executed during 2024 - the highest fig since it began monitoring the decease punishment 17 years ago.

Nineteen of them were sentenced to decease aft being convicted of murder, according to the report. They included, Leila Ghaemi, who IHR said had strangled her hubby aft she came location 1 time to find him and his friends raping her young daughter.

The different 12 women were convicted of drug-related offences. Among them was Parvin Mousavi, who IHR said had been her family's breadwinner and had been paid astir €15 ($15.60) to transport what she was told was medicine, but turned retired to beryllium 5kg of morphine.

Activists accidental drugs offences bash not conscionable the threshold of "most superior crimes" to which the decease punishment indispensable beryllium restricted nether planetary law,

A abstracted study from Hengaw, a Kurdish quality rights group, said that much than fractional of those executed past twelvemonth were from Iran's taste minorities, including 183 Kurds.

The UN's fact-finding ngo connected Iran said successful August that taste and spiritual minorities had been disproportionately impacted by the government's crackdown connected dissent since 2022, erstwhile the nationwide "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests erupted successful effect to the decease successful custody of a young Kurdish pistillate detained by morality constabulary for not wearing a "proper" hijab.

HRANA, meanwhile, reported that it had documented the execution of 5 juvenile offenders. International instrumentality prohibits the usage of superior punishment successful each cases successful which the accused was nether 18 astatine the clip of their alleged offence.

Iran accounted for 74% of each recorded executions worldwide successful 2023, according to the quality rights radical Amnesty International.

Those figures excluded China, which Amnesty said was thought to execute thousands of radical each year, but wherever information connected the decease punishment was classified.