Iran | At Least 49 Executions in July and 300 in First 7 Months of 2024

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); August 1, 2024: At least 300 executions took place in Iranian prisons in the first seven months of 2024. 15 women, 42 Baluch and 20 Kurdish minorities, and 20 Afghan nationals were amongst those executed. Of the 300 recorded executions, 172 executions were for drug-related offences. Following a relative decline in executions after Ebrahim Raisi's death and the presidential elections (19 May-5 July), at least 49 people were executed in July, 36 of whom where executed in the last 11 days of the month.

Iran Human Rights warns about the intensification of executions in Iran and calls for the special attention of the international community and the public to executions in Iranian prisons.

IHRNGO Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “We are particularly worried about the new wave of executions of Kurdish civil activists and drug death row prisoners in the coming weeks and months. The only way to prevent this wave of executions is to raise its political cost through civil society protests and international pressure.”

January-July 2024 executions at a glance:

At least 300 people executed
Only 28 executions (9%) were announced by official sources
172 of the recorded executions were for drug-related charges
110 were executed for murder charges (qisas as retribution-in-kind)
15 people were executed for the security-related charges of baghy (armed rebellion), moharebeh (enmity against god) and efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth)
Of the 15 security-related executions, 5 were accused of espionage for Israel, 5 were Kurdish-Sunni political prisoners
3 of the recorded executions were for rape charges
At least 15 women were executed with 10 hanged for drug offences
42 Baluch and 20 Kurdish minorities were amongst those executed
20 Afghan nationals and one Iraqi national were also amongst those executed

According to data collected by Iran Human Rights, at least 300 people were executed in Iran in the first seven months of 2024. This is a 30% decrease compared to the same period in 2023 when at least 430 people were executed. This decrease can be attributed to the parliamentary and presidential elections and the death of President Raisi.

Of the 300 executions recorded by IHRNGO, only 9% (28 executions) were announced by official sources. The remaining 91% were confirmed by Iran Human RIghts through two independent sources.

Of the 300 recorded executions, 172 were for drug-related charges, 110 for murder, 15 were for the security-related charges of efsad-fil-arz, moharebeh and baghy, and 3 for rape charges.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year since 2021. However, there has been a 20% decrease in the first seven months of 2024 compared to the same period last year when 216 were executed for drug-related charges. 95 drug executions were recorded for the same period in 2022.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, August 3, 2024

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