December 1, 2023
Iran is carrying out executions at an alarming rate,” putting to death at least 419 people in the first seven months of the year, the United Nations chief said in a new report. That’s a 30 percent increase from the same period last year.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in the report to the UN General Asasembly on the human rights situation in Iran that seven men were executed for their roles in the protests since the September 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
In all seven cases, information received by the UN human rights office “consistently indicated that the judicial proceedings did not fulfil the requirements for due process and a fair trial under international human rights law,” Guterres said. “Access to adequate and timely legal representation was frequently denied, with reports of coerced confessions, which may have been obtained as a result of torture.”
He said 239 people more than half of those executed in the seven-month period were reportedly put to death for drug offenses, a 98 percent increase from the same period last year.
The secretary general cited information received by the UN rights agency that between September 17, 2022, and February 8, 2023, an estimated 20,000 individuals were arrested for participating in the protests.
“It is particularly concerning that most of the individuals arrested may have been children, given that the reported average age of those arrested was estimated to be 15 years, according to the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” he said.
The government said “a minimum of” 22,000 people arrested during the protests were pardoned, but the secretary general said it was difficult to verify the arrest and release numbers.
Guterres expressed concern that a number of individuals who were pardoned then received summonses on new charges or were rearrested.