Iran is one of the countries “where executions are the most numerous in the world”, regretted the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in a statement on Tuesday, May 9.
Since the beginning of the year, at least 209 people have been executed in Iran, according to the UN. These are mainly people convicted in cases related to drug trafficking, indicates the organization, which specifies that it is probable that this figure is higher.
It is a number incredibly high “. ” On average, since the beginning of the year, more than ten people have been put to death each week in Iran, making it one of the countries with the highest number of executions in the world. “, denounced the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk.
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balance sheet “ abominable »
” At this rate, it is worrying to note that iran is on the same path as last year, when an estimated 580 people were reportedly executed “, he added, calling this record of” abominable “. Worse, if the current trend continues this year, “ this will represent one of the highest rates of application of the death penalty in Iran since 2015 ” when ” 972 executions had been reported “, according to a spokeswoman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani.
Recently, two men, Sadrollah Fazeli Zare and Youssef Mehrdad, were executed by hanging for blasphemy, prompting condemnation from Washington and human rights NGOs. And Saturday is Iranian-Swedish dissident Habib Chaabconvicted of leading an Arab separatist group in the west of the country and sentenced to death for ” terrorism which was executed.
The UN is outraged by the executions of at least 45 people, including 22 belonging to the Baloch minority. They have, according to some sources, been executed in the past 14 days for, most of them, drug-related charges. ” Imposing the death penalty for drug-related offenses is inconsistent with international human rights standards “, reacted Volker Türk who insisted on recalling that the Human Rights Committee prohibits the imposition of the death penalty for all crimes, with the exception of “ most serious crimes “.
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(With AFP)