World Day Against the Death Penalty: Hengaw's Report on the Rise of Executions in 2024 in Iran
According to data recorded by the Statistics and Documents Center of the Hengaw, at least 525 prisoners have been executed in various prisons across Iran since the beginning of 2024, as of October 9. Among them, 18 were women, and 3 were children at the time of committing the crimes. Hengaw has confirmed the identities of 485 prisoners, and only 8% of these executions were reported by Iran’s official media.
• In the past nine months and ten days, at least 18 women have been executed in various prisons across Iran.
• During this period, three prisoners who were children at the time of committing the crimes were executed.
• At least 12 prisoners were executed for political, religious, or espionage-related charges, 10 of whom were Kurdish.
• At least three death sentences were carried out in public.
• At least 113 Kurds were executed, accounting for 21.5% of all executions.
• Hengaw has verified the identities of 485 executed prisoners, while the identities of 40 prisoners remain under investigation.
• Only 41 cases (8%) were officially reported by Iranian state media.
• At least 20 prisoners were secretly executed without informing their families or allowing them a final visit.
• At least 49 Afghan nationals were executed during this period.
• The highest number of executions took place in the provinces of Alborz and Fars, with 106 and 60 recorded cases, respectively.
Breakdown of executions by charge:
• Drug-related charges: 285 cases
• Premeditated murder: 194 cases
• Political, religious, or espionage-related charges: 12 cases
• Armed robbery: 7 cases
• "Waging war against God" and murder: 5 cases
• Rape: 15 cases
• Rape and murder: 1 case
• Unknown: 6 cases
Breakdown of executions by ethnic/national minority:
• Kurdish: 113 cases
• Baloch: 68 cases
• Azerbaijani Turks: 67 cases
• Lurs: 33 cases
• Gilaks: 13 cases
• Arabs: 8 cases
• Turkmens: 4 cases
• Sistanis: 2 cases
• Hazara: 2 cases
• Foreign nationals: 51 cases (49 Afghan nationals and 2 Iraqi nationals)
• Persian: 100 cases
• The ethnicity/nationality of 64 prisoners is unknown.
This alarming data shows no significant change compared to last year. It keeps Iran's execution rate at its highest in the past decade, a blatant violation of international standards regarding the death penalty. Iran's state is moving in the opposite direction of reducing executions, instead maintaining a high execution rate.
Furthermore, the data reveals that the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to execute individuals for their political or religious beliefs. National minorities, particularly those who are marginalized and disenfranchised, experience the highest rates of execution relative to their population size.
