Iran is turning prisons into “mass killing fields” after at least 853 prisoners were executed in 2023 following a new “war on drugs”, a devastating new report from Amnesty International has revealed.
In the findings released on Thursday, Iranian authorities have “persisted with their state-sanctioned killing spree which has turned prisons into killing fields”, human-rights group Armesty said. It is a staggering 48 percent increase on the previous year and 56 percent of the executions were drug-related, the report added.
It follows two recent reports from Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) which said a slightly lower figure of 834 prisoners were executed in 2023. The increase in executions comes after Iran was thrown into violent upheaval in September 2022 and nine people were executed in cases relating to protests.
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Human rights groups have expressed their concerns that authorities are using executions as a way to instill fear throughout members of society and prevent further protests. There have been at least 95 executions already recorded up to March 20, according to Amnesty, who said that its numbers were “minimum figures” and the real death toll would be higher.
The group said in its report: “Without a robust global response, Amnesty International fears that the Iranian authorities will continue using the death penalty as a tool of oppression to execute thousands more people in the coming years.” Adding: “Our shocking findings on the Iranian authorities’ ongoing assault on the right to life underscore the urgent need for the international community to press the Iranian authorities for an immediate moratorium on all executions”, the report added.
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Some of the people executed include 17-year-old Hamidreza Azari who was hanged in November last year in Razavi Khorasan after he was convicted following a deadly stabbing when he was just 16. However, his age “was misrepresented” as 18 by state media to “evade accountability,” Amnesty said, adding that it had seen his birth certificate.
Meanwhile, the surge in a number of executions for drug offences was a concern for Amnesty. The group said Iran’s anti-narcotics legislation was modified in 2017 and drug offences were on the slide in 2018 and 2020 before suddenly increasing last year.
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“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, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. The report comes after an Israeli airstrike that demolished Iran’s consulate in Syria on Monday killed two Iranian generals and five officers, according to Iranian officials.
The strike appeared to signify an escalation of Israel’s targeting of military officials from Iran, which supports militant groups fighting Israel in Gaza, and along its border with Lebanon. Since the war in Gaza began nearly six months ago, clashes have increased between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants based in Lebanon.
Hamas, which rules Gaza and attacked Israel on October 7, is also backed by Iran. Israel, which rarely acknowledges strikes against Iranian targets, said it had no comment on the latest attack in Syria, although a military spokesman blamed Iran for a drone attack early Monday against a naval base in southern Israel.
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