The main Iranian media showed images of the members of the cocaine distribution cartel. / Photo: Mizan Online.
Iran executed three convicted of drug trafficking and four convicted of rape, at a time when the UN and various NGOs are warning about an increase in the application of the death penalty in the country.
On Tuesday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, denounced the “terribly” high number of executions in the country so far this year, an average of more than ten per week.
“This Wednesday morning the death sentence of three members of the Panjak gang, the main cocaine distribution cartel, was carried out”reported the information agency of the judicial authority, Mizan Online.
Mizan reported that six members of the gang were detained in 2014.
“At the time of the arrest, a kilogram of cocaine, opium and methamphetamine was seized from the members of this gang”added the judiciary quoted by the AFP news agency.
The three men were hanged in the Ghezal Hesar prison in Karaj, near Tehran, the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said in a statement.
The Norway-based organization further reported that four other men convicted of rape were executed in Rajai Shahr prison.
“The government’s death machine is accelerating,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam.
64 executions in 12
These hangings bring to 64 the total number of executions in Iran in the last 12 days, the NGO warned.
Two men were hanged on Monday for “defiling the Koran” and “insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad” amid a surge in blasphemy executions in Iran.
At the beginning of the month, Iran executed a dissident with Swedish and Iranian nationality Habib Chaab, convicted of “terrorism”.
In recent months, Tehran has caused outrage in European countries by executing a British passport holder and sentencing a German citizen to death.
Iran is the country that executes the most people in the world behind China, according to human rights organizations.
According to a report presented by the UN, so far this year, at least 209 people were executed in Iranespecially for drug-related crimes, to which are added the seven sentences applied this Wednesday.
In its work, the UN pointed out that the total figure could be higher and Türk described the balance as “abominable”.
Record of executed
In 2022, the number of people executed increased by 75% compared to the previous year, the NGOs Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Ensemble contre la Peine de Mort (ECPM) reported in April in France.
At least 582 people were executed in the Islamic Republic in 2022, a record since 2015, up from 333 in 2021, the organizations said.
Only a small number of countries impose and apply the death penalty, including Iran, China and the United States.
“Imposing the death penalty for drug-related offenses is incompatible with international human rights standards,” Türk warned.
The Human Rights Committee prohibits the imposition of the death penalty for crimes, except for the “most serious crimes”, those of extreme gravity involving voluntary manslaughter, and those that do not include drug offences.
