A recent report has revealed a dramatic surge in executions in Iran during August, prompting international experts to call on the Iranian government to halt this unlawful practice. 

“We are deeply concerned by this sharp rise in executions,” stated U.N. experts, including special rapporteurs on human rights, in a press release issued by the Office of the . 

“Based on the information we have received, only a small portion of the 93 executions carried out in August have been officially reported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, highlighting the urgent need for transparency,” the experts emphasized. 

The U.N. reported that almost half of the executions conducted last month were in response to alleged drug offenses, which the experts stressed are contrary to “international standards.” 

“Countries that retain the death penalty must ensure that individuals are not subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment throughout the criminal justice process,” the experts stated. 

“Wrongful executions are irreversible. The current implementation of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran leaves us extremely concerned that innocent individuals may have been executed,” the experts added. “We renew our appeal to Iranian authorities to halt executions of all individuals sentenced to death,” 

Drug offenses have become a primary justification for the Iranian government to carry out executions, which have reached an eight-year high, . The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which counts Iran among its members, limits the death penalty to only the “most serious crimes,” which does not include drug offenses. 

The non-profit alleges in a report released earlier this year that Iran’s executions started to increase following the 2022 unrest that resulted from the , who died under suspicious circumstances after a clash with Iran’s morality police due to allegedly not correctly wearing her hijab headscarf. 

In the report, Amnesty International characterizes Iran’s use of executions not as a tool of punishment but of intimidation, seeking to “instill fear among the population and tighten their grip on power.” 

Iran this year has executed over 400 people, including over a dozen women – putting the country on track to match the , most of which punished political dissidents. 

“Never-mind the change at the top: Musical chairs between Iranian presidents has had zero bearing on the plight of the Iranian people to include rights violations and executions at home,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Digital. 

“Tehran’s true face is on display here,” Taleblu argued. “A rise in executions including for alleged drug-related offenses is a feature, not a bug, of the vision the Islamic Republic has for order at home.”

“Show trials, forced confessions, and violations of due process feature all too prominently in these death sentence cases,” he added. 

The U.N. highlighted the case of Reza Rasaei, an Iranina-Kurdish protester whom authorities punished based on a “confession reportedly .” 

The government alleged that Rasaei was involved in the death of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member, and it pursued execution even after co-defendants retracted their testimonies about his involvement and a forensic medical examiner challenging Rasaei’s involvement. 

The special rapporteurs serve as part of the Special Procedures group on the Human Rights Council, pursuing fact-finding missions and monitoring “mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world.”