KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Iran Human Rights Organization has reported that Iran executed 166 individuals in October, including 13 Afghan nationals. This marks the highest monthly execution rate in the country in the past two decades, according to the organization’s statement released on Saturday, November 2.
Details regarding the Afghan citizens executed and the specific charges against them were not disclosed. The report noted that among those executed in October, at least 80 faced charges of “premeditated murder,” 54 were convicted of “drug-related offenses,” 12 for “armed rebellion or corruption,” and 10 for “rape.”
The organization highlighted a growing trend of executions involving Afghan nationals since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. In 2022, Iran executed 16 Afghan citizens, including a minor and a woman. This number rose to 25 in 2023. Alarmingly, the pace has quickened, with 49 Afghan nationals executed in the first 10 months of 2024, 13 of them in October alone.
The Taliban have yet to respond to these executions. Previously, the Ministry of Justice of the Taliban-led government requested that Iran’s judiciary transfer Afghan citizens sentenced to death.
Iranian authorities have not confirmed the reported figures. Known for having one of the world’s highest execution rates, Iran has carried out hundreds of executions over the past decades for crimes ranging from drug offenses to national security violations and anti-government protests.
Despite international prohibitions, Iran remains among the few countries that execute juvenile offenders, contravening international law, which bars the death penalty for individuals under 18 at the time of their offense.
Last month, a joint report by Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) indicated that Iran executed at least 834 people in 2023—the highest annual number since 2015.
Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have condemned these executions as politically motivated and argue that the death penalty violates the right to life outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
