“While 260 people were executed in 2020, at least 310 individuals were executed in 2021, of which at least 14 are women,” said UN Secretary-General Nada Al-Nashif, adding that the trend continued this year.
Between January 1 and March 20, “at least 105 people were executed,” she said, and many of them belonged to minority groups.
Nada Al-Nashif notes that the death penalty continues to be imposed in ways that are incompatible with the standards of a fair trial.
She also regrets the continued use of the death penalty for crimes committed when the accused was a minor, which is contrary to international law.
Between August 2021 and March 2022, at least two people who committed their crimes as minors were executed, says Nada Al-Nashif.
The Swedish-Iranian researcher Ahmadreza Djalali was sentenced to death in Iran in 2017, accused of espionage.
The accusations have been dismissed by Sweden.