ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian authorities executed at least ten prisoners in February, a large decrease from the previous month, a human rights watchdog reported on Saturday.
“In February 2024, the death sentences of at least 10 prisoners were carried out in the prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Hengaw Organization for Human Rights stated. In January, 74 prisoners were executed.
A Kurdish prisoner and an Iraqi citizen were among those executed. The prisoners were convicted on charges of murder and drug-related offenses.
Only one of the ten executions was officially announced by the authorities, according to Hengaw.
Iran is among the world’s worst offenders in its use of the death penalty and the number of executions increased after the 2022 protests. According to an Amnesty International report, Iran became the nation with the second-highest rate of known executions in 2022, having executed 576 people across the country, which was a staggering increase from 314 the year before.
The surge of executions did not lose pace in 2023. In July, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights reported that at least 354 people, including six women, were executed in the first six months of 2023. Iranian authorities reported only 43 of the recorded executions, which make up just 12 percent of the total.
In December, Hengaw reported that Iran had executed 144 Kurdish prisoners in 2023, a significant rise from 2022 when the number was 52.
Hengaw suggested that the slowdown in executions in February “may be attributed to the commencement of the parliamentary election campaign in the Islamic Republic, with a potential for a resurgence after the elections.”
Iranians went to the polls on Friday to elect a new parliament and Assembly of Experts. The vote saw record low turnout.
Many of those who are executed in Iran are convicted based on confessions condemned by rights groups as often obtained under duress. In November, the United Nations human rights office called on Tehran to halt the use of the death penalty, especially on children.
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