Iranian authorities have reportedly executed 20 Afghan nationals across the country in the first seven months of this year, a nongovernmental organization said.
According to a report released by Iran Human Rights Organization, a nonprofit that monitors rights violations in Iran, the Islamic Republic’s judicial system carried out a total of 300 executions during this period.
Other than 20 Afghan nationals, the executions by hanging involved 42 prisoners from the oppressed Baloch community, 20 ethnic Kurds, and 15 women prisoners.
The organization fears the real number is higher as authorities do not publicly release such figures.
The rights group has underscored the urgent need for the international community to press the Iranian authorities for an immediate end to all executions.
The identity of the Afghan citizens is unknown. Moreover, the report does not clearly indicate the charges of the death penalty against Afghan nationals. However, Afghan prisoners held in Iranian prisons were sentenced to death on drug and terrorism-related charges in the past as reported by other human rights groups.
Rights groups reveal an escalating use of the death penalty by Iranian authorities against ethnic minorities and women in recent years, particularly in the aftermath of widespread protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022 after she was arrested for violating the country’s mandatory hijab rule.
Following the protests, dubbed the “Women. Life. Freedom” uprising, Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown on dissents, activists, and ethnic minorities in a systematic bid to sow fear among the public.
Amnesty International recorded the number of executions in 2023 the highest since 2015 which marked a 48% increase from 2022 and a 172% increase from 2021. The regime’s execution spree continues into 2024, with at least 95 recorded executions by 20 March.
In most cases, prisoners were put to death in secret without prior notice to their families and lawyers.
“The death penalty is abhorrent in all circumstances but deploying it on a mass scale for drug-related offences after grossly unfair trials before Revolutionary Courts is a grotesque abuse of power,” said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
“The Islamic Republic’s deadly anti-narcotics policies are contributing to a cycle of poverty and systemic injustice, and further entrenching discrimination against marginalized communities, in particular Iran’s oppressed Baluchi minority.”
