The 15th Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, prepared by the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) and the French organisation ECPM, reveals the highest annual number of executions since 2015. At least 582 people were executed, an increase of 75% compared to 333 in 2021.

Nearly half of the death sentences were for murder or drug offences, respectively, according to the report. Three per cent of those executed had been convicted under Sharia, Islamic law, on the controversial charges of "waging war against God" and "corruption on earth". Sixteen of all those executed were women, and three others were minors. 2022 marked the highest total number of executions in Iran since 2015.

According to the report, the increase in executions indicates that the death penalty is being used as a "bargaining chip" and "repressive lever" to deal with the country's social problems. The IHR and ECPM also criticise the high proportion of ethnic minorities among those executed. According to the report, the Baloch minority was particularly hard hit by the wave of executions last year. Their members accounted for about 30 per cent of all those executed in 2022, even though the Baloch population only makes up between two and five per cent of Iran's total population. The "absolute majority" of those executed for their political affiliation, on the other hand, belonged to the Kurdish minority. More than 88 per cent of all executions were carried out in secret and without prior notification of their legal advisors and families.

Ethnic minorities are among the socio-economically marginalised groups in Iran. The death penalty is part of their systematic discrimination and extensive oppression, the report emphasises. Amnesty International also accuses the leadership in Tehran of using the death penalty as an "instrument of oppression" against ethnic minorities. After Baluch and Kurd, the Arab Ahwazi in Khuzestan are most frequently affected by executions.

The regime also had four participants of the "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" revolt executed. The popular uprising was triggered by the death of the Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old from Seqiz was arrested in mid-September by Iranian moral guards for an alleged violation of the strict dress code and was maltreated to death in police custody. Since the beginning of the year, the IHR has recorded 151 executions in Iran.