GENEVA (Reuters) – The number of people executed in Iran last year rose to 901, including 31 women, some of whom were convicted of killing their husbands after suffering abuse or being forced into marriage, the U.N. office said on Tuesday. for human rights.
Most of the executions were for drug-related offences, but the victims included political dissidents and people linked to mass protests in 2022 over the death of a 22-year-old woman in police custody, the UN said in a statement.
“It is deeply disturbing that we are once again seeing an increase in the number of people being put to death in Iran year after year,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement to reporters. “It is high time for Iran to stem this rising tide of executions.”
In total, at least 901 people were executed by hanging last year in the Islamic Republic, compared with 853 in 2023, the UN rights office said. This is the highest number since 2015, when 972 people were executed.
The 2022 protests, which sparked some of the worst turmoil since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, followed the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman who was arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s mandatory dress code.
At least 31 women were executed in 2024, UN rights office spokeswoman Liz Throssell told reporters at a press briefing in Geneva, which she said was the highest number in at least 15 years.
“Most of the cases involved accusations of murder. A significant number of women were victims of domestic violence, child marriage or forced marriage,” she added.
Masoud Pezeshkian, the reformist who won Iran’s presidential election in July 2024, promised during his campaign to better protect the rights of women and minorities.
