ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran carried out the death sentences of nearly 20 Kurdish prisoners in the last two weeks, a human rights watchdog reported on Sunday.
According to Hengaw Human Rights Organization, Iranian prisons executed at least 19 people, mostly for drug-related charges, since January 1.
Hangaw reported that this figure includes the execution of the death sentences of six prisoners in Karaj central prison. The six prisoners were previously sentenced to death by a court in karaj for drug related charges.
One unidentified prisoner was executed for homicide.
In December, Hengaw reported that Iranian prisons had executed 144 Kurdish prisoners in 2023, a significant rise from 2022, in which Iran executed 52 Kurdish prisoners.
According to an Amnesty International report, Iran became the nation with the second-highest rate of known executions in 2022, having executed 576 people across the country, which was a staggering increase from 314 the year before.
The surge of executions did not lose pace in 2023. In July, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) reported that at least 354 people, including six women, were executed in the first six months of 2023 and Iranian authorities reported only 43 of the recorded executions, which make up just 12 percent of the total.
Many people are executed on drug-related offences, which Amnesty International in June called a “deadly war on the poor,” targeting disadvantaged and marginalized communities.
The death penalty has also been used to suppress minority groups, like Kurds and Baluchis, who were active in the Jin Jiyan Azadi protests in 2022.
In November, the United Nations human rights office called on Tehran to halt use of the death penalty, especially on children.
Many of those who are executed in Iran are convicted based on confessions condemned by rights groups as often obtained under duress.
