ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Amnesty International on Friday said the alarming increase of Iran's drug-related executions has mainly targeted the country's marginalized and economically disadvantaged communities, describing it as a "deadly war on the poor." In the first five months of this year, Iran executed at least 173 people for drug-related offenses, nearly triple the number from the same period in 2022, according to the human rights watchdog. "It is mostly the poor and vulnerable who are impacted by the death penalty, as they are often unaware of their rights and cannot afford independent legal representation," said Amnesty, saying some families have sold all their possessions to afford court-appointed lawyers who took the money and disappeared. "If my father hadn't been executed, I would be thinking about my future right now, not thinking of how to make money for my family," the human rights monitor quoted the teenage son of a man executed on drug-related charges. Amnesty also reported on death row inmates prohibited from defending themselves and forced to sign documents accepting their death sentence. Drug-related executions are carried out following "flawed" investigations by the authorities and "systematically unfair" trials, Amnesty said. Nearly 20 percent of death sentences were carried out against members of the Baluchi community, who make up only five percent of the Islamic republic's population. The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization (IHR) on Thursday said that at least 78 people were executed for drug-related offenses in the month of May, 30 of whom were Baluchis. Baluchis are a mainly Sunni ethnic minority in Iran, living predominantly in the southeastern Baluchestan region, near the border with Pakistan. The region was also heavily targeted during the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) violent crackdown on September's nationwide protests. Hundreds of Baluchis were killed by the IRGC during demonstrations in Zahedan and Khash. Iran executed at least 576 people last year, a significant increase from 314 in 2021, making it the country with the second highest rate of known executions during 2022, according to the annual report from Amnesty International. Executions for drug-related offences increased by 93 percent. This year, after last fall's widespread demonstrations and a crackdown on the drug trade, Iran has carried out an alarming number of executions. Amnesty estimated at least 282 people were executed during the first five months of 2023. The United Nations human rights Chief Volker Turk last month expressed concern about Iran's "frighteningly high number of executions," especially on drug offenses. "Imposing the death penalty for drug offences is incompatible with international human rights norms and standards," he said. Most of those who are executed in Iran are convicted based on confessions that are condemned by rights groups who say they are often obtained under duress.
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