Iran executed at least 901 people in 2024, according to UN reports

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday that Iranian authorities reportedly executed 901 people last year, including about 40 people in one week in December.

“It is extremely worrying that we are once again witnessing an increase in the number of people subject to the death penalty in Iran on an annual basis,” said Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. This compares to the execution of at least 853 people in Iran in 2023.

“It is time for Iran to stop this rising tide of executions,” Türk said in a statement.

Iran uses the death penalty Major crimes Including murder, drug trafficking, rape and sexual assault.

Activists are increasingly concerned about the rise in hangings in Iran.

The Islamic Republic executes more people annually than any other country except China, for which reliable figures are not available, according to human rights groups including Amnesty International.

They accuse the authorities led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Using the death penalty As a tool to instill fear in society, especially in the wake of 2022-2023 Nationwide protests.

The UN Human Rights Office said most of the executions carried out last year were for drug-related offences, but added that “dissenters and people linked to the 2022 protests were also executed.”

“There is also an increase in the number of women executed,” the office said.

At least 31 women will be executed in Iran in 2024, the Human Rights Institute said in a report on Monday.

Iran does not publish official data on executions, but a spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, Liz Throssell, told reporters that the team had collected figures from a range of different credible human rights organizations monitoring the situation, including HRANA, Hengaw and Norway-based Iran Human Rights.

“We are confident about the number,” she said.

The largest number of executions in Iran in recent decades was recorded in 2015, when at least 972 people were executed.
The numbers then declined after Iran’s anti-drug law was reformed in 2017, but Throssell warned that “since 2022, the numbers have risen sharply.”

“Clearly the number for 2024 is alarmingly and shockingly high,” Throssell said.

Turk stressed that his office opposes “the death penalty in all circumstances.”

He added, “This matter contradicts the fundamental right to life and raises an unacceptable risk of executing innocent people.” “To be clear, they can never be imposed because of conduct protected by international human rights law.”

The High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Iranian authorities to halt all further executions, and to halt the use of the death penalty with a view to its eventual abolition.

About 170 countries have abolished the death penalty or imposed a ban on its use.