Amnesty International denounces “a frenzy of executions” in particular “for offenses related to narcotics”

Amnesty international alert in a press release sent Friday, June 2 to franceinfo on a “frenzy of executions in prisons” in iran “for drug-related offences”. THE “figures have almost tripled”. Since the beginning of the year in Iran, “at least 282 people have already been executed”, reveals the NGO. Of the 282 people put to death, “At least 173 people have been executed for drug-related offenses after hasty and unfair trials, nearly three times the number at the same time last year”details the NGO.

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This figure of 282 executions represents almost the “double the executions recorded last year at the same time”in the country. “If the executions continue at the same rate, it is feared that the number of executed will exceed 1,000 by the end of the year”worries Amnesty International.

Executions for drug-related offenses account for two-thirds of all executions that took place in Iran in the first five months of 2023 and mostly affect people from marginalized and impoverished backgrounds. Amnesty International denounces “the absurdity of legal proceedings, which particularly affect the poorest and end in capital punishment, after confessions often extracted under torture”, in most cases. The NGO states that “20% of those executed are from the Baloch minority” and “five people were executed in connection with the protest movements, one for adultery, and two users of social networks for “apostasy” and “insults to the prophet of Islam”.

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“States and intergovernmental bodies must condemn in the strongest possible terms the Iranian authorities for these arbitrary executions, call for the establishment of an official moratorium on all executions”claims Amnesty International.