IRAN: 537 HANGINGS FROM OCTOBER 2012 TO OCTOBER 2013

From October 11, 2012 to October 10, 2013 at least 537 people were hanged in various cities across Iran. This figure represents a 9% increase in the number of hangings over the same period last year. The following is an excerpt from a Human Rights Activists News Agency report on executions in Iran. The most number of executions in one day was carried out on August 22, 2013. On that day, 27 people were hanged in various cities across Iran. The most number of executions were carried out in Alborz province. Due to the three major prisons in this province (Ghezel Hesar, Rejaei Shahr and Karaj penitentiary) it had the high statistics of executions. The provinces carrying the most number of executions are: Alborz with 93 hangings, Tehran with 42 hangings and Fars and West Azarbaijan with 38 hangings each. With 47 hangings, Rejaei Shahr prison holds the highest number of executions statistic, followed by Oromieh with 40 hangings and Ghezel Hesar with 37 hangings. 62% of the executions during this period were convictions on drug charges, 13% were for murder charges and 11% were for rape. During this period (October 2012 until now) 537 people who had received the death sentence were executed.
12% of these hangings (67 people) were hanged in public. Most of the executions were carried out with minimal transparency in the process and the execution itself to the point that the gender of 61% of those hanged is not known. Only the gender of 19 women and 189 men were disclosed. Also the identity of 60% of those executed and reported by the judiciary are unknown and only in some cases in which that the hanging was public was the identity those hanged disclosed.