Amnesty International: Drug-related Executions in Iran Have Tripled

Amnesty International announced in a statement that the number of drug-related executions by the Islamic Republic has tripled this year compared to last year. The international organization described the high execution statistics as 'shameful,' reporting that 173 individuals have been executed under the pretext of drug crimes in Iran since the beginning of the year, most of whom did not receive a fair trial. According to Amnesty International, executions for drug offenses account for two-thirds of all executions carried out by the Islamic Republic in the first five months of 2023. In recent years, there have been efforts by the United Nations to abolish the death penalty for drug-related crimes in Iran, but the Islamic Republic, despite verbal support for these efforts, still maintains the highest statistics for executions in these cases. A day earlier, the Iran Human Rights Organization reported that the execution of 142 individuals last month in Iran was an 'unprecedented record' since 2015. According to a report published by this human rights organization on Thursday, June 1, more than half of those executed were sentenced to death for drug-related charges, and 21 percent of the executed individuals were Baluch citizens. The report stated that 307 individuals have been executed in the past five months, representing a 76 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Although officials of the Islamic Republic attribute these executions to drug crimes, murder, and robbery, they have also executed political detainees and protesters in the past six months. At least seven protesters have been executed during this period, some of whom had no murder charges against them. According to the Iran Human Rights Organization, the Islamic Republic has expanded the scope of charges leading to death sentences by executing two individuals for expressing opinions online (sabb al-nabi) and for sexual relations (zina al-muhsana). Recently, six lawyers sent a letter to Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, calling for 'control or limitation' of the death penalty in Iran and other countries. These six Iranian lawyers have attributed the increase in executions in Iran to the 'Women, Life, Freedom' protest movement and have urged Antonio Guterres to encourage UN member states to abolish or at least limit the issuance of death sentences. Mohammad Oliaei-Fard, one of the signatories of this letter, previously stated in an interview with the Persian section of Voice of America that the Islamic Republic uses executions as a political tool.