Status: 07/27/2022 11:57 a.m
At least 251 people have been executed in Iran this year, according to Amnesty International. This means that there was more than one execution per day. Amnesty also assumes that the number of unreported cases is high.
According to Amnesty International, there were at least 251 executions in Iran in the first half of 2022. The actual number of executions cannot be stated, according to the human organization. The Iranian authorities are concealing the official figures on death sentences passed and executed. That is why Amnesty speaks of a probably high number of unreported cases. The figures come from joint research with another NGO, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre.
According to the investigation, 146 people alone were killed on murder charges. A further 86 executions were carried out for drug-related offences, although international law does not allow them to be punished with death, Amnesty said.
The death penalty particularly hits the minority
A German-Iranian is also threatened with the death penalty. The 67-year-old Jamshid Sharmahd was kidnapped from Dubai to Iran in 2020 and arbitrarily arrested there. The human rights organizations report that he could be sentenced to death by an Iranian court in the coming days for “depravity on earth”.
According to Amnesty International, the executions particularly hit the Baloch minority. 26 percent of all executions in the first half of 2022 would have hit Baloch, although according to Amnesty they only make up five percent of the population.
More executions only in China
According to the research results, there are indications that the total number of death sentences carried out this year could even exceed that of the previous year. “During the first six months of 2022, the Iranian authorities executed an average of more than one person a day,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa. For 2021, Amnesty documented a total of 314 executions in Iran.
Globally, only China has more executions, Amnesty reports. According to the human rights organization, the death penalty had been abolished or suspended in 144 countries by the end of 2021.