Iran executed more than 100 people in the first three months of 2022, continuing a worrying upward trend, according to a report by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres presented on Tuesday.
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Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN deputy human rights chief Nada Al-Nashif presented Guterres' latest report on Iran, decrying that executions in the country were on the rise.
The report cited data collected by non-governmental organizations showing that 310 individuals were executed in 2021 compared with 260 in all of the previous year. In the first three months of 2022, the trend continued with at least 105 people executed, it said.
Guterres's report also highlighted the increase in executions for lesser crimes, Nashif noted. Capital crimes in Iran include same-sex relations, armed rebellion, and "spreading corruption," the report stated.
🇮🇷 #Iran: New report shows continued protests met with excessive use of force by authorities, restrictive legislative measures & an increase in executions – Deputy UN Human Rights Chief @NadaNashif tells @UN_HRC.
Read more: https://t.co/0BrAbYR07A#HRC50 pic.twitter.com/mlgCO7s1Ak
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) June 21, 2022
"The death penalty continues to be imposed on the basis of charges not amounting to 'most serious crimes,' and in ways incompatible with fair trials standards," she told the council.
Nashif said that in March, 52 people sentenced to death on drug-related charges were transferred to Shiraz prison for execution.
She also lamented the continued use of the death penalty for juvenile offenders, in violation of international law.
Between August 2021 and March 2022, at least two people who committed their alleged crimes as minors were executed and more than 85 juvenile offenders remain on death row, Nashif said.
The deputy rights chief also decried other rights abuses in Iran, especially in response to protests over a range of significant social, political, and economic challenges over the past year.
"Excessive use of force constitutes the default response by the authorities to managing assemblies," she said.
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