Executions in Iran increased in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, according to a non-governmental human rights organization.

Specifically, until the end of June, Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Oslo, reported that it recorded 354 executions. In the corresponding period of 2022, it spoke of 261 executions.

Authorities in the Islamic Republic have executed seven people arrested during mass demonstrations and riots since last September, after Mahsha Amini, a young Iranian-Kurdish woman, accused of violating the strict dress code imposed on women, died at the hands of morality police.

Most of the people executed in the first half of this year (206) were convicted of drug trafficking and drug use, according to the IHR.

The majority of those put to death are low-cost victims of the killing machine, accused in drug cases, often from the most marginalized communities.

Executions of members of ethnic minorities are common. Amnesty International also recently accused the Iranian authorities of using capital punishment as a tool to oppress minorities.

According to CNN Greece, official data on executions in Iran, the number of which has been reported by human rights organizations for years, is not being released by the authorities.

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