photo: collected

GENEVA, Jan 7, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - More than 900 people were reportedly executed
in Iran last year, including around 40 in a single week in December, the
United Nations rights chief said on Tuesday.

"It is deeply disturbing that yet again we see an increase in the number of
people subjected to the death penalty in Iran year-on-year," Volker Turk
said, adding that at least 901 people were reportedly executed in 2024.

"It is high time Iran stemmed this ever-swelling tide of executions."

Iran uses capital punishment for major crimes including murder, drug
trafficking, rape and sexual assault.

The Islamic republic executes more people per year than any other nation
except China, for which no reliable figures are available, according to human
rights groups including Amnesty International.

Activists are increasingly alarmed over the surge in hangings in Iran.

They accuse the authorities under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of
using capital punishment as a tool to instil fear throughout society,
particularly in the wake of 2022-2023 nationwide protests.

The UN rights office said that most of last year's executions were for drug-
related offences but it said "dissidents and people connected to the 2022
protests were also executed".

"There was also a rise in the number of women executed."

Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), which closely tracks executions in
Iran, said in a report on Monday that at least 31 women had been executed in
2024.

"We oppose the death penalty under all circumstances," Turk said.

"It is incompatible with the fundamental right to life and raises the
unacceptable risk of executing innocent people," he said.

"And, to be clear, it can never be imposed for conduct that is protected
under international human rights law."

The UN rights chief urged the Iranian authorities to halt all further
executions, and to place a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a
view to ultimately abolishing it.