Human Rights Voices

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Iran, September 6, 2019

Iran Executes 38 People In August – Report

Original source

Radio Farda

A Norway-based Iranian human rights organization reports that 38 people were executed in Iran in August, double the rate in the same period last year.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) says based on information it has collected 32 of those executed were convicted of first-degree murder, six were hanged for major narcotics and drug trafficking convictions.

Two prisoners were executed on charges of "Moharebeh", which in Islamic law means "waging war against God". The Islamic Republic uses this serious accusation against those who question the basis of the Islamic political system or the legitimacy of clerical rule in Iran. Two executions took place in public while the rest were carried out in various prisons around the country.

Official figures released by the Islamic Republic acknowledge only 13 execution, while human rights monitors reported an additional 25 cases.

Meanwhile, IHR reports that a juvenile offender may be executed soon, according to his family. Mehdi Khazaeian has been convicted of an alleged murder he committed when he was 16 years old. He is now 20.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Iran has ratified, clearly bans execution and life imprisonment of juveniles. Iran and China have the highest rate of executions in the world.

According to IHR, since the beginning of 2019 at least two Juvenile offenders have been executed in Iran.