Tehran's hardline government has increased executions in an effort to discourage protests that have exploded across the country over the past year following the police-custody death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for improperly wearing her hijab. File photo by EPA-EFE
April 14 (UPI) -- Iran's hardline government executed at least 582 people last year in an effort to sow public fear as anti-government protests surged across the country, according to a new human rights report.
The number of Iranians executed in 2022 was the highest since 2015 and marked a 75% increase over the previous year when 333 were put to death, according to the annual report on the Death Penalty in the Islamic Republic -- compiled by Iran Human Rights and a French-based anti-death penalty group known as ECPM.
The government was deliberately using the executions to set an example that was intended to "instill societal fear in order to hold onto power," the report alleges.
Protests have gripped the country for months following the September police-custody death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for improperly wearing her hijab.
The resulting crackdown has netted more than 100 additional protest defendants who face death penalty trials in the coming months.
Another 20 protesters have already been sentenced to death in preliminary trials but were still awaiting their fate, the report says.
The report identified 15 executions had been carried out for nebulous charges related to national security, like "enmity against God" and "corruption on Earth." At least four protesters were among this group, including Mohsen Shekari, who in December became the first demonstrator to be publicly hanged.
The theocratic government has faced increasing pressure from world leaders over the recent executions of political prisoners, which has led to a wave of government-sanctioned deaths for other capital crimes, the report said.
"The international reactions to the death sentences against protesters have made it difficult for the Islamic Republic to proceed with their executions," said Iran Human Rights Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam. "To compensate, and in order to spread fear among people, the authorities have intensified the execution for non-political charges."
Mahmood continued to call on the global community to help stop "the Islamic Republic's execution machine" by taking a stronger stance against Tehran.
The report alleges that nearly 90% of executions for crimes like murder, rape and drug trafficking had been carried out without any public knowledge, while just 71 executions, or 12%, were announced by the government.
The report also noted that 16 women were executed throughout 2022 and that three juvenile offenders were also put to death in that time.
In total, more than 4,000 executions have been carried out in the country since 2010 under orders of the Revolutionary Courts, the report says.
