NGOs are concerned about the sharp increase in the use of the death penalty in Iran
Iran is one of the countries that apply the death penalty the most in the world.
REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl
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The use of the death penalty is on the rise (+25%) in 2021 in Iran, where an increasing number of women have been hanged, denounce two NGOs, urging the international community to make it a "priority" in any negotiation with Tehran.
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“
Iran is beginning a strong comeback on the international scene with negotiations surrounding its nuclear program
” but at the same time this country “
has continued executions
” and “
used the death penalty as a tool of repression
against many opponents
” , denounce Iran Human Rights and Together Against the Death Penalty in a report published on Thursday.
At least 333 people were executed in Iran in 2021, a 25% increase from 267 in 2020, according to this 14th annual report on the death penalty from IHR, based in Norway and ECPM, based in France, which consider the situation "
alarming
".
Executions in Iran – one of the countries that execute the most along with China and Saudi Arabia – are carried out by hanging and strangulation.
The NGOs note that "
the number of executions accelerated
after the election of President Ebrahim Raïsi last June and doubled in the second half of 2021 compared to the first half
".
According to these NGOs, "
the number of executions linked to drug trafficking has increased dramatically with a total of 126 executed over the year, or around a hundred more than the previous year
" (25 in 2020).
17 hanged women
At least 17 women are among those executed in 2021, up from nine in 2020. Of these, 12 were executed for murder.
NGOs are concerned about the growing number of women convicted of killing their husbands who NGOs say may have been violent with them.
The law encourages the plaintiffs (families of the victim, or of the convict if he is accused of having killed a member of his family) to participate personally in the execution, according to the NGOs.
Of the 17 women executed in 2021, five were executed for drug-related offences.
A number of women have been convicted, eight of them, of killing their husbands in the context of domestic violence.
Aminata Niakaté, President of Together Against the Death Penalty
Nicholas Feldman
The report describes the case of Maryam Karimi, convicted of killing her abusive husband who refused to grant her a divorce.
In March 2021, Ms. Karimi's daughter carried out the execution herself.
The Death Penalty and the Ongoing Iranian Nuclear Negotiations
"
The Islamic Republic's terrible human rights and death penalty records are not included in the JCPOA talks
(2015 agreement supposed to prevent Iran from acquiring the atomic bomb, editor's note)" , notes Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of IHR.
He regrets that “
the Iranian authorities are subject to less surveillance while these negotiations are underway
”.
“
Any negotiation between the West and Iran must include the issue of the death penalty among its priorities
,” urges Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan, director general of ECPM.
(
With
AFP)
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