Amnesty International published its 2019 global review of the death penalty on April 21, 2020, reporting that global abolition was within reach. However, it said, “Iran retained its place as the world’s second most prolific executioner after China, where the exact number of people put to death remains a state secret.”
Amnesty International underscored that Iran was among the countries which “continued to hide the full extent of their use of the death penalty by restricting access to death penalty information.”
“Iran is second only to China in its use of the death penalty. It put to death at least 251 people in 2019, compared with at least 253 in 2018 – four of whom were below 18 at the time of the crime. However, a lack of transparency makes it difficult to confirm the real total number of executions – which may be far higher,” wrote Amnesty International in its press release.
Shockingly, executions are taking place in Iran without notifying their families, lawyers, or even the individual, himself.
According to Amnesty International, “Iranian authorities secretly executed two boys, Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat, in Adelabad prison in Shiraz, Fars province on 25 April 2019. They were both arrested aged 15 and convicted on multiple rape charges following an unfair trial. Not only did they not know they had been sentenced to death before their executions, but their bodies bore lash marks, indicating they had been whipped before their deaths.”
Clare Algar, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy and Policy, was quoted as saying, “We are calling on all states to abolish the death penalty. There needs to be international pressure on the world’s last remaining executioners to end this inhuman practice for good.”
106 countries have abolished the death penalty in law for all crimes and 142 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, said Amnesty International.
Iranian regime officials have never heeded to the International community’s calls to abolish the death penalty.
The Iranian regime uses execution as a tool to suppress and silence a disgruntled public the majority of whom live under the poverty line, are unemployed and deprived of freedom of expression.
Not only Iran is the leading state in executions per capita, but it also tops the charts in the number of executions of minors and juvenile offenders.
According to the registered tally by Iran HRM, the Iranian regime executed 273 persons in 2019, including 16 women and 9 juveniles.
