“Massacre sites” : this is how the non-governmental organization Amnesty International describes, in a press release published Thursday April 4, the Iranian prisons, where at least 853 prisoners were executed in 2023. More than half of the people concerned had been sentenced for crimes drug-related offenses.
The number of executions in 2023 is the highest since 2015 and marks an increase of 48% compared to 2022 and 172% compared to 2021, notes Amnesty. The NGO calls on the international community to take measures to “put an end to the terrible wave of executions”. Since the start of 2024, 95 executions have been recorded, the press release added.
“The Iranian authorities have strengthened the death penalty in order to spread fear among the population and tighten their grip on power, following the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising”accuses Amnesty.
A wave of protest shook Iran for months after the death in detention in September 2022 of a young Iranian Kurd, Mahsa Amini, arrested by the moral police for non-compliance with the strict Islamic dress code. Nine people were executed in connection with this uprising, according to NGOs.
“In the absence of a strong global response, Iranian authorities will feel entitled to execute thousands more people in the years to come, with complete impunity”says Diana Eltahawy, deputy regional director for the Middle East, quoted in the press release.
Minors sentenced to death
Noting the“Staggering increase” drug-related executions, Amnesty denounces “the Islamic Republic’s murderous drug policies”and notes that a number of“Opponents and members of oppressed ethnic minorities are among those executed”like the Baloch.
The year 2023 “was also marked by a shocking intensification of the application of the death penalty to juvenile offenders, with the execution of a 17-year-old boy and four young people convicted of crimes committed when they were aged under 18 years old »notes the organization.
Executions in Iran are generally carried out by hanging in prisons, sometimes in public.