It is a threefold increase since the last year.
According to a report by the Iranian Human Rights Organization, 307 people have been executed in Iran and Rojhelat in the first five months of this year, a threefold increase compared to last year.
Iran's Human Rights Organization (IHO) has released a report on death penalty in Iran. In the first five months of 2023, 307 people have been executed in Iran and Rojhelat.
In May, 142 people were executed, four a day, the highest number in a month since 2015. Of the 142 executed, 37 percent were Kurdish and Baluch prisoners. Of the number 31 were Baluchs, 22 Kurds, nine Turks and six Afghanis. According to the report, 59 percent of those executed this year, or 180, were charged with drug abuse.
174 people were executed in the same period last year, an increase of 76 percent in the first five months of 2023. The Iranian government has been accused of imposing the death penalty on many charges, the report added.
It has expanded the range of charges that carries the death penalty, such as charges of insulting religious sanctities and expressing opinions on social networks, as well as the death penalty for sexual intercourse.
Iranian Human Rights Watch warned of the growing use of the death penalty and called on the international community to take serious and practical steps to stop executions in Iran.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International says the increase in the number of executions in Iran and East Kurdistan is shameful, tripling compared to the same period last year.