Iran: 853 people executed in eight years, more than half in 2023 alone, repression under the banner of the war on drugs

ROMA – The death penalty to terrorize and extinguish dissent. The new report of Amnesty International highlights the arbitrary use of executions in Iran. The organization reports that at least 481 capital punishments, or more than half of the 853 reported in the last eight years, were carried out in 2023. From the official sentences it emerges that the most punished crimes are those related to drugs, but the ratio of Amnesty reveals that the use of the executioner intensified in the aftermath of the demonstrations “Women Life Freedom”, which ignited the streets across the country after the death, in September 2022, of Mahsa Amini, the twenty-two-year-old arrested for wearing the veil incorrectly and who died while in custody.

A terrible year. The number of executions in 2023 is the highest ever recorded since 2015 and marks an increase of 48 percent compared to 2022 and 172 percent compared to 2021. Iran – warns the organization – will continue to execute at the same rate also in 2024, considering that as of March 20, 95 prisoners have already been killed. And the number is probably an underestimate. “The death penalty is reprehensible under any circumstances, but applying it on a large scale for drug-related crimes after unfair trials before revolutionary courts is a terrible abuse of power. The Islamic Republic’s anti-drug policies are fueling a cycle of poverty and systemic injustices especially against the most marginalized communities such as the Baluchi minority”, explains Diana Eltahawy, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa of Amnesty International. Last year there was also a wave of executions against protesters, social media users and other real or perceived dissidents, all of whom were tried and then killed on vague charges such as “insulting the prophet”, “apostasy”, generic statements of “enmity against God”.

The sentences. Most of the death sentences carried out in 2023 bear the signature of the revolutionary courts. These courts have jurisdiction over a wide range of crimes, including drug-related crimes, which are considered national security crimes. The courts are not independent – ​​he writes Amnesty – operate under the influence of the security and safety bodies intelligence and they routinely use, as evidence, confessions extracted by force and torture in trials which therefore turn out to be summary and unfair. The surge in executions in 2023 is largely due to a change in Iran’s anti-drug policy following the accession of Ebrahim Raisi to the presidency and the appointment of Gholamhossein Eje’i as head of the judiciary, both of which occurred in 2021. In statements officials of the judicial authorities, analyzed by Amnesty, a greater use of the death penalty is called for to fight drugs, in contrast with the policies carried out from 2017 to 2020, when executions for drug-related crimes had suffered a drastic decline.

And give. In 2023, drug-related death sentences constituted 56 percent of all death sentences, an 89 percent increase compared to 2022 and a 264 percent increase compared to 2021. The Baluchi minority counts among its members 29 percent of those executed, or 138 people, despite the fact that the Baluchis represent just 5 percent of the Iranian population. Many of the prisoners were executed in secret, without warning to their lawyers or their families.

The death penalty as an instrument of political oppression. During 2023, in the aftermath of the uprising “Woman Life Freedom” erupted in September 2022, Iranian authorities have stepped up their use of capital punishment to repress dissent. Last year, six men were hanged in connection with the protests and a further seven people are at imminent risk of execution for the same reasons. The increase in executions has led death row inmates to go on hunger strike and publicly call for action to stop the executions. In May 2023, days before they were killed following grossly unfair trials, protesters Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi released a note from prison that read: “please don’t let them kill us.”

The death penalty against minors. 2023 marked an increase in capital punishment also against minors. A 17-year-old boy and four young people, convicted when they were under 18, were put to death. Hamidreza Azari was arrested when he was just 16 years old and executed less than seven months later, after a grossly unfair and summary trial. Authorities lied about the boy’s age, as death sentences against minors are prohibited under international law.