More than 200 people lost their lives at the hands of the Iranian government between January and May this year. According to the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), a total of 211 people have lost their lives so far in 2023 in Iran. Five of them were women.
This figure was confirmed by the United Nations (U.N.) during a press conference held on Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland. They claimed that, in this time period, Iran executed 209 people, two fewer than IHR indicates. U.N. spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani described this figures as "abominable":
The U.N. Human Rights chief Volker Turk today expressed dismay at the frighteningly high number of executions this year in Iran. On average so far this year, over 10 people are put to death each week in Iran, making it one of the world's highest executors.
Executions on the rise in Iran
This figure also worries experts because, if the trend continues, they estimate the total number of executions in the country will be around 580 by the end of the year. This figure is similar to the number of people executed last year, 582.
The U.N. noted that, of the executions, the vast majority were of members representing a minority. Thus, the U.N. reports, of the 45 people killed in the last two weeks, 22 belonged to the Baloch tribe.
Blasphemy has been another cause for executions. Just a day ago, two people were killed for "desecrating the Koran" and "insulting Islam and Muhammad." These causes, according to the U.N., do not justify executions. Turk therefore asked Iran to delay the executions and to halt them permanently in the future.
