Iranian prisoners protest against rising executions

October 10 is the World Day Against the Death Penalty, with the goal to raise awareness about capital punishment and advocate for it to be abolished.

On Wednesday, the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights launched a 24-hour live program on social media to draw international attention to death sentences and executions in Iran, as well as the weekly peaceful protests against the death penalty in Iranian prisons. The program began with the reading of a letter, which was written by Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi and smuggled out of Evin prison in the Iranian capital, Tehran, where she is being held.

Mohammadi, who was imprisoned in part for her peaceful campaign against the death penalty, co-initiated a weekly protest against executions 37 weeks ago. Every Tuesday, she and other political prisoners go on hunger strike. The campaign has spread across the country and is currently taking place in 22 jails, according to human rights organizations.

"We need the global support of human rights activists to end the executions in Iran," appealed Mohammadi in her letter. "Help us to stop the machinery of execution."

At least 811 people executed in a year

According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the number of executions in Iran increased by 23.06% between October 10, 2023 and October 8, 2024 compared to the previous 12 months (October 2022 to October 2023). At least 811 people were executed during this period.

HRANA is an unofficial news agency that records and documents human rights violations in Iran with the support of activists inside and outside the country. It said that 186 additional people were sentenced to death between October 10, 2023 and October 8, 2024. The Supreme Court upheld 59 of these death sentences.

According to Amnesty International, there were at least 1,153 executions recorded worldwide in 2023, the highest toll since 2015. Almost three-quarters were carried out in Iran, where the human rights organization said at least 853 people had been executed.

"We also have a list with the names of 47 more individuals who were executed over the past 12 months," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of Iran Human Rights, in an interview with DW in May. "But we have yet to publish their names because have not been able to find a second independent source to confirm their execution."

Not all families report executions to human rights organizations. Many remain silent out of fear of reprisals or shame.

Ethnic minorities disproportionately targeted

Human rights activists have criticized the disproportionate use of the death penalty against the Kurdish minority in western Iran and the Baluchi minority in the southeast of the country, where there is widespread poverty.

While most of the Iranian population is made up of Shia Muslims, the majority of Kurds and Baluchis in Iran are Sunni. These ethnic and religious minorities, who live largely in economically disadvantaged regions of the country, have long complained of discrimination and systematic human rights violations.

"Of the recorded executions in Iran, at least 545 were unlawfully carried out for acts that should not result in the death penalty under international law, including drug-related offenses, robbery and espionage," found Amnesty International in its annual report.

"The executions disproportionately impacted Iran's Baluchi ethnic minority," it added. "The authorities executed at least 172 people — 166 men and six women — from the Baluchi minority, accounting for 20% of all executions even though they make up around 5% of Iran's population."

The total number of executions recorded by Amnesty International in 2023 does not include those that took place in China, where data on the use of the death penalty is classified as a state secret. The same applies to Vietnam and North Korea.

"Available information indicates that each year thousands of people are executed and sentenced to death," in China, it wrote.

After Iran, Saudi Arabia accounted for the largest number of recorded executions, with 172.

This article was originally written in German.