The number of people executed in Iran rose to 901 last year, including 31 women, some of whom were convicted of murdering their husbands to prevent rape or after being forced into marriage, the rights office said on Tuesday. UN Human Rights.
Most of the executions were for drug-related crimes, but the victims also included political dissidents and people connected to the 2022 mass protests over the death in police custody of a 22-year-old woman, according to the statement from the UN.
“It is deeply worrying that we are once again seeing an increase in the number of people subjected to the death penalty in Iran year after year,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement sent to the journalists. “It is time for Iran to stop this escalating wave of executions.”
In total, at least 901 people were executed by hanging last year in the Islamic Republic, compared to 853 in 2023, the U.N. human rights office said. This represented the highest figure since 2015, when 972 people were executed.
Iran’s diplomatic mission in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.N. statement.
The 2022 protests, which sparked some of the worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, followed the death in police custody of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s mandatory dress code.
At least 31 women were executed in 2024, UN rights office spokesperson Liz Throssell told reporters at a news conference in Geneva, representing what she said was the highest number in at least 15 years.
“Most of the cases involved murder charges. “A significant number of women were victims of domestic violence, child marriage or forced marriage,” he added.
One of the women executed for murder had killed her husband to prevent him from raping their daughter, Throssell told Reuters after the briefing.
Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist who won elections as Iran’s president in July 2024, made promises during his campaign to better protect the rights of women and minorities.
