Analysis
Iran: the death penalty, “a real tool of political repression”
Iran executed at least 834 people in 2023. An increase of 43% compared to the year 2022, according to the annual report on the death penalty in Iran.
Between the interest of the international community, focused on diplomacy around the war in Gaza, and the population's break with power, NGOs fear a further increase in the number of executions in 2024.
Mahmoud Amiri-Moghadam, director of Iran Human Rights.
© RFI
By: Oriane Verdier Follow
Advertisement
Read more
Of the 834 cases listed in the report, only 15% of these executions had been officially announced by the authorities.
The rest were reported by sources inside Iran, many may still have remained silent.
“
We have a large network across the country and people trust us to make their voices heard,”
says Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights.
There are lawyers, families and even people within the system who want to make the reality known.
But their actions are increasingly risky, because the regime feels in danger.
»
At the heart of the pages of the report published by Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) and Iran Human Rights (IRHNGO), the faces of executed people follow one another.
Men, women, and even children.
At least two executions of minors took place in 2023.
A large majority of those convicted were also tortured during their detention, often in order to extract confessions.
Read alsoIran: between pardons and death sentences, the government wants to show that it remains in control
A repression in collaboration with the United Nations
Another reality is emerging, that of drug-related death sentences.
These might seem anecdotal, but are in reality indicative of the use of the death penalty as a tool of political repression.
“
We noted a spectacular escalation in 2023,”
underlines Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan, director of ECPM.
56% of executions are for drug trafficking, but these are generally people from the poorest social classes and ethnic minorities.
The message sent to the Iranian population is: "
We have the capacity
to execute you, whatever the cause and motivation.
"
With this report, the NGOs are once again attempting to challenge the international community and particularly the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which collaborates with the Iranian authorities in the fight against drug trafficking.
Despite criticism from international observers, a new agreement was even reached to continue this collaboration.
“
Millions of dollars are poured into helping with arrests,”
reports Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan.
Sniffer dogs, trucks, weapons and police formations.
It is now internationally recognized that the “all-repressive approach” in the fight against drugs is a failure.
It's no use.
And yet, UNODC continues to work on this logic with Iran, the country that executes the most in the world.
»
The director of IHR claims to have tried to contact the UNODC on several occasions, without ever receiving a response or observing any change in their position.
However, he recalls that it was under international pressure that Iran modified the laws on the fight against drug trafficking, leading to a drastic drop in executions between 2018 and 2020.
More generally, international pressure on Iran's policy of repression eased with the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
“
After October 7, Iran quickly went from two executions per day to three or even four executions per day,
reports Mahdmood Amiry-Moghaddam,
particularly of the figures of the demonstrations.
There was no international reaction.
Governments have been much more cautious since Iran became a player in the war in Gaza.
»
The human rights activist fears a new jump in the number of executions after last Friday's legislative elections.
A vote marked by a record abstention, proof of the population's break with the regime.
“
Before, the authorities played on two levels: one was repression and executions, the other was to give false hopes of reform.
Today, they can no longer play the game of hope or reform, they only have one thing left to do, and that is repression.
»
If in 2022 the threshold of horror had already been exceeded in the use of the death penalty in Iran, 2023 is another dark year: at least 834 executions were carried out in the country, an increase of 43% compared to to 2022. #StopExecutionsInIran 🇮🇷 pic.twitter.com/CTsF7jGd8i
— ECPM (Together against the death penalty) (@AssoECPM) March 5, 2024
To rereadIslamic Republic of Iran: 45 years of human rights violations
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your inbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Share :
Continue reading on the same themes:
Iran
our selection
Human rights
Womens rights
Justice
NGO