Dozens of Inmates Await Execution in Iranian Prison

Ninety Iranians incarcerated in Zanjan Central Prison await execution on charges including drug trafficking, murder, armed robbery and rape, human rights groups have warned. 

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said that the vast majority of them were sentenced to death for drug-related offenses. Four were convicted of rape.

In recent weeks, the sharp rise in executions in the country sparked passionate calls from Iranian civil society to abolish the death penalty, with the hashtag #NoToExecution being increasingly popular among social media users.

Ten political prisoners held in Ghezelhesar prison have initiated weekly hunger strikes they dubbed "Black Tuesdays" to protest the judiciary's issuance and enforcement of death sentences. 

Their protest action garnered widespread support from political prisoners nationwide.

The number of people given capital punishment across Iran reached a 12-month high in January, with at least 35 people being sentenced to death during that month, according to the activist HRANA news agency.

As many as 86 individuals were executed in January, it also said, stressing that capital punishment in Iran is “routinely imposed following trials that fall short of due process guarantees, in a judicial system that lacks transparency and impartiality, and for crimes that do not amount to the most serious crimes under international law.”