Iran executed 834 people in 2023, highest since 2015

Iran executed a “staggering” total of at least 834 people in 2023, the highest number since 2015 as capital punishment surged in the Islamic republic, two rights groups said Tuesday (March 5).

The number of executions, which Iran has carried out by hanging in recent years, was up some 43 percent on 2022.

It marked only the second time in two decades that over 800 executions were recorded in a year, after 972 executions in 2015, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty said in the joint report.

The groups accused Iran of using the death penalty to spread fear throughout society in the wake of the protests sparked by the September 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini that shook the authorities.

“Instilling societal fear is the regime’s only way to hold on to power, and the death penalty is its most important instrument,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam in the report, which described the figure of 834 as a “staggering total”.

(With inputs from NDTV)