Iran steps up capital punishment
Iran steps up capital punishment
The news are difficult to get. They came out days after the execution have been carried out. At times there are no names attached to the people who have been hanged in Iran. They are just numbers for the Iranian government. So news come through of three more people executed in Kýrmaþan. And four people have been hanged in Qom prison a few days ago.
Mohammad Reza Mir-Heydari, the head of the security forces in Qom said in a press conference that the four people, who had been convicted of smuggling drugs have been executed in Qom prison during the last two weeks.
The main theme of the press conference was about the arrest of more than 200 people, including 32 drug dealers, 79 “dangerous drug addicts”, and 137 drug users. Mir-Heydari described the four executions as “marginal”.
Iran has executed an average of almost two people a day in the first six months of this year, according to local and international human rights groups.
The sharp escalation in the use of capital punishment comes at a time when the Islamic government is fighting to prevent pro-democracy movements similar to those that have been sweeping across the Middle East from taking hold in the country.
Human rights groups that have been carefully monitoring the rate of executions in Iran said the authorities had launched a fresh campaign of secret and mass hangings of prisoners in the provinces.
According to Amnesty International, Iran has acknowledged the execution of 190 people from the beginning of 2011 until the end of June but at least 130 others have also been reported to have been executed.
Iran Human Rights (IHR), an independent NGO based in Norway, told the Guardian it had recorded 390 executions since January. But the number is clearly higher.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI), a US-based non-government organisation, said its records showed 320 executions – a combination of those announced by the regime and those that have taken place in secret.
Mohammad Reza Mir-Heydari, the head of the security forces in Qom said in a press conference that the four people, who had been convicted of smuggling drugs have been executed in Qom prison during the last two weeks.
The main theme of the press conference was about the arrest of more than 200 people, including 32 drug dealers, 79 “dangerous drug addicts”, and 137 drug users. Mir-Heydari described the four executions as “marginal”.
Iran has executed an average of almost two people a day in the first six months of this year, according to local and international human rights groups.
The sharp escalation in the use of capital punishment comes at a time when the Islamic government is fighting to prevent pro-democracy movements similar to those that have been sweeping across the Middle East from taking hold in the country.
Human rights groups that have been carefully monitoring the rate of executions in Iran said the authorities had launched a fresh campaign of secret and mass hangings of prisoners in the provinces.
According to Amnesty International, Iran has acknowledged the execution of 190 people from the beginning of 2011 until the end of June but at least 130 others have also been reported to have been executed.
Iran Human Rights (IHR), an independent NGO based in Norway, told the Guardian it had recorded 390 executions since January. But the number is clearly higher.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI), a US-based non-government organisation, said its records showed 320 executions – a combination of those announced by the regime and those that have taken place in secret.
