Iranian authorities have transferred sixteen prisoners at Ghezelhesar Prison to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions, a human rights organization reported.
All sixteen had previously been sentenced to death for non-political crimes, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
The report states that four of the prisoners had been convicted of murder, and five of the sixteen were Afghan nationals.
This development comes amid ongoing concerns about the use of capital punishment in Iran.
According to a report by Amnesty International, Iran has reached its highest level of death sentence executions in the last eight years, with the judiciary of the Islamic Republic executing 853 people in 2023 alone.
The report indicates that 481 executions, more than half of the total, were related to drug crimes.
This marks an 89 percent rise in death penalties for drug-related offenses compared to 2022 when 255 people were executed.
The latest numbers also show a staggering 264 per cent increase compared to 2021, when 132 individuals faced execution on similar charges.
Interested in writing for IranWire?
Share your stories.
comments