Iran’s execution rate tops 1,000 this year as death row inmates launch hunger strike

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The regime in Iran was described as being on an “unprecedented execution spree” by the United Nations. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the Islamic Republic of Iran carried out more than 1,000 executions since the start of the year.

With as many as nine executions each day at the time of their report, OHCHR said that victims were primarily accused of murder and drug-related crimes.

In an effort to raise worldwide awareness of their situation, some 1,500 Iranian prisoners on death row in Ward 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison staged a hunger strike on Oct. 13. Among them were 17 members of the Iranian dissident organization Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK). 

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A spokesperson from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital that Iran previously executed two MEK members on July 27 and has yet to return their bodies to their families.

The hunger strike has spread to Wards 1 and 4 in Ghezel Hesar Prison, as well as to the notorious Evin Prison. The NCRI claims that prison officials have attempted to break the strike and has shared footage of prisoners in Ward 3 eating food to “falsely claim that there is no hunger strike in Ward 2.”

In an exclusive statement provided to Fox News Digital, the striking prisoners said, “Our patience has run out over this endless oppression and the taking of the lives of prisoners and young people. Every day and every week, some of our cellmates are sent to the gallows, and many of us spend our nights in the nightmare of death. These are the most agonizing moments of our lives and of our families. We demand the abolition of the death penalty in Iran.”

The NCRI told Fox News Digital that executions have increased in recent days, with 38 executions taking place between Oct. 13 and Oct. 15. This drove the total “number of executions during the 14½ months of [Masoud] Pezeshkian’s presidency” to “an unprecedented record of 2,008 prisoners.”

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Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the NCRI, called “for immediate action by the United Nations, U.N. Security Council members, the European Union, and international human rights organizations to end this horrific nightmare in Iran under the rule of the criminal mullahs.”

Iranian prisoners have called on U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to speak out and intervene on their behalf.

Fox News Digital asked if the U.S. State Department is considering additional sanctions against Iranian leaders in response to the rash of executions. A State Department spokesperson said, “We strongly condemn the Iranian regime’s use of executions to kill people for exercising basic human rights, including peacefully protesting for a better life.”

“For decades, Iranians have been subjected to torture and sham trials resulting in executions and other severe punishments, often with those coerced confessions as the only evidence presented against them. We will continue to hold the Iranian regime accountable, ensuring it faces severe consequences for its heinous acts,” the spokesperson continued.

Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for Guterres, told Fox News Digital, “We stand firmly against and continue to condemn the use of the death penalty in Iran, and anywhere else in the world.”

Earlier this month, the U.N. Human Rights Council drew widespread condemnation after it elected Iran to its advisory committee. 

 

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