(Paris) The number of people executed in Iran on drug-related charges has tripled this year compared to 2022, Amnesty International said on Friday.
According to Amnesty, at least 173 people have been sentenced to death since the start of 2023 for drug-related offenses “after systematically unfair trials”, adding that this is almost three times more than in the same time last year.
Iran has also hanged seven men for their involvement in the protests that erupted in September, but activists noted that hangings on all kinds of charges, especially drugs, have risen sharply in recent months.
These drug-related executions accounted for two-thirds of all executions in Iran in the first five months of 2023, mostly affecting “people from marginalized and economically disadvantaged backgrounds”.
Amnesty said members of Iran’s Baloch ethnic minority accounted for around 20% of recorded executions “despite making up only 5% of Iran’s population”.
“The rate at which the authorities are carrying out executions for drug-related offenses in violation of international law reveals their lack of humanity,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and South Africa. North.
Executions in Iran had declined in recent years after the adoption in 2017 of an amendment to the anti-narcotics law aimed at limiting the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences. But according to activists, executions have picked up again after 2020, as Iran now executes people on all counts in a bid to instill fear in the population to suppress the protest movement.
The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (UNODC) and member states that fund UNODC projects in Iran are now under increasing pressure to condemn the spate of executions.
“The international community must ensure that cooperation in counter-drug trafficking initiatives does not contribute, directly or indirectly, to the arbitrary deprivation of life and other human rights violations in Iran. “said Mr.me Eltahawy.
Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Norway, said at least 307 people were executed in 2023, an increase of more than 75% compared to the same period last year, while at least 142 people had been executed in May, the highest monthly figure since 2015.
“If the authorities continue to carry out mass executions at this alarming rate, they could kill nearly a thousand prisoners by the end of this year,” Amnesty said.