Report: 122 Prisoners Executed in Iran in November

A person in the Cypriot capital Nicosia checks a mobile phone on December 12, 2022, displaying a Tweet about the execution announced by Iranian authorities of Majidreza Rahnavard, the second capital punishment linked to nearly three months of protests. [AFP]

A new report by a human rights group that closely follows how many prisoners are executed in Iran each month offers a chilling look at the surge in capital punishment there.

The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights has documented at least 100 executions in Iran over the past month, indicating a stark increase of more than 50% in comparison to the previous month.

In a report released Saturday, Hengaw disclosed a notable surge of 56.5% in the number of executions during November, recording 122 compared to the 78 reported in October.

According to Hengaw's findings, nearly half of the individuals executed last month faced charges related to drug offenses.

But the human rights organization says not all were connected to drug-related charges. It says at least 11 of those executed were political and religious prisoners. Two were juvenile offenders and two women were among those executed in November.

The surge in executions in Iran has drawn criticism from human rights organizations, the United Nations, and various countries.

On Friday, the European Union, through an official statement, characterized the ongoing wave of executions in Iran as "appalling," citing at least 600 cases since the beginning of this calendar year, and urged an end to these "cruel and inhumane" punishments.

Earlier, Liz Throssell, the United Nations human rights office spokesperson, had called on the Iranian government to abstain from employing punitive measures against political activists and protesters engaged in peaceful assemblies.

Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, a nongovernmental organization based in Norway, has recently urged the global community, particularly European countries, to break their silence on the "escalating executions of more than three individuals per day by the Islamic Republic."