BERLIN: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has expressed grave concern over reports that Iranian authorities have executed 29 people in the past two days, according to a statement from the UN Human Rights Office on Friday.
“This represents an alarmingly high number of executions in such a short period,” said UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Liz Throssell.
While the death toll has not been independently verified by the UN, she noted that the reported executions would bring the total number of executions in Iran this year to at least 345, including 15 women.
The Norway-based group Iran Human Rights reported on Wednesday that 29 men, including two Afghans and a member of the Baloch ethnic minority, were executed at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj for crimes including murder, rape, and drug offenses.
The group also said that at least 87 people have been executed in Iranian prisons since the election of President Masoud Pezeshkian in July.
Throssell highlighted that it is particularly troubling that a significant portion of those executed were convicted of drug-related offenses and that minorities such as Kurds, Hawassi Arabs, and Baloch are disproportionately affected.
“Imposing the death penalty for offenses not involving intentional killing is incompatible with international human rights norms and standards,” she said.
