Iran executed 834 people last year, highest since 2015
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00:00 Well, last year, Iran executed at least 834 people, the highest number since 2015.
00:08 This Tuesday, the annual report on the death penalty in Iran was presented here in Paris.
00:13 The number of executions which Iran has carried out by hanging in recent years was up some
00:18 43 percent from last year.
00:21 Well, I'm joined now on the set by France 24's James Andre, who was at the press conference
00:26 earlier today where those numbers were released.
00:28 James, thank you for joining us.
00:30 We're seeing this huge rise in the number of executions.
00:33 Give us some of the reasons for why that happened so much.
00:36 Well, according to the NGOs, this is due to the context at the moment, including the fact
00:41 that indeed there was these very important protests last year known as the Women Life
00:46 Freedom protests that came after Massa Amimi, who was a young, 22-year-old Kurdish woman,
00:52 was arrested by the police in Tehran because her veil was not correctly placed, according
00:59 to them.
01:00 And then, well, she was, according to witnesses, beaten and died three days later in hospital,
01:04 which sparked huge protests across the country.
01:06 And well, according to the NGOs, and especially according to Mahmoud Amiri Moghadam, who was
01:11 speaking today at this press conference and who is the head of Iran Human Rights NGO,
01:17 well, the two things are linked, these protests and these executions.
01:21 This is what he had to tell us this morning.
01:23 This new wave of execution, this surge, started after the Women Life Freedom protests.
01:34 And the aim is to prevent more protests.
01:39 This is, you know, Iranian regime doesn't execute people to combat crimes because they
01:45 know that after 45 years, death penalty does not deter drug crimes or violent crimes, but
01:53 it creates fear.
01:54 And a regime that is not capable to solve people's daily problems, a regime that is
02:01 highly corrupt and doesn't have people's support, doesn't have any other option in order to
02:06 hold on to power.
02:08 Now what's interesting is these figures actually went up after the events of October 7th in
02:13 Israel.
02:14 And this is also what the NGO is saying.
02:15 And this is that basically it's double.
02:18 If you take per day, on average before the 7th of October, it's roughly two executions
02:23 per day.
02:24 And that goes up to four.
02:25 Now, according to these NGOs, well, this is linked to the fact that indeed the regime
02:31 and Iran needs, I'd say, to secure its position and to make sure there is no dissent at a
02:37 time where, of course, as you know, Iran is engaged in the regional situation, you know,
02:44 Houthi and also Hezbollah in Lebanon, who are all linked, if you like, to this axis
02:50 that's controlled by Iran.
02:54 And that means indeed it is not a good time for them to be, you know, any political dissent
02:58 within the country.
02:59 And it's interesting to note actually that most of these death penalties are not for
03:04 political motives.
03:05 And this is something that the head of Together Against the Death Penalty, who's co-hosting
03:11 this press conference, was telling me.
03:12 And that is that in fact eight protesters have been executed last year.
03:17 And that is to be compared to people executed for drug-related crimes, which is the largest
03:22 number, and murders.
03:24 But what he was telling me is that the Iranian authorities in fact send messages through
03:32 these executions saying, right, there is death penalty here and we will use it.
03:36 This is why these figures go up.
03:37 The idea is indeed to make sure that the population does fear this eventuality and indeed keeps,
03:45 you know, basically abide by the rules.
03:49 But also the relatively small number of protesters killed does go to show that indeed the Iranian
03:55 authorities do take care of the image on the international stage.
04:00 So you know, they do not want to be seen basically having politically motivated executions very
04:06 often, simply because they know that will be a problem on the international stage.
04:10 Now what we're being told as well is that basically what's happening in Gaza since the
04:14 7th of October has indeed, and Israel has, diverted public attention worldwide to that
04:21 crisis.
04:22 And indeed there is less attention and less focus when it comes to executions in Iran
04:28 and capital punishment.
04:30 Just very briefly, James, what are these NGOs who are presenting this report today calling
04:33 for?
04:34 What do they want the international community to do?
04:35 Well, what they want, they want the international community to basically, you know, condemn
04:41 these executions.
04:42 They say, you know, before the 7th of October, for example, if you have a publicly recognized
04:47 execution, because you've got to understand that of these 834 executions, most are not
04:53 made public by the Iranian authorities.
04:57 It would be about 150 last year that are officially recognized and publicized, if you will.
05:04 But usually each time one of these executions takes place, there will be international reaction.
05:09 The UN will react, the US, the NGOs will react, etc.
05:12 In this specific case, since the 7th of October, this has not been happening.
05:16 And they say this, in a sense, gives impunity to the Iranian regime when it comes to these
05:21 executions.
05:22 I would add one thing as well, is that when it comes to reasons for executions, and there
05:26 have been, you know, some juvenile offenders who have been executed also, reasons can be
05:31 very wide ranging.
05:33 Often minor drug, that would be considered minor here, drug crimes will be punished by
05:39 capital punishment.
05:40 But also, for example, if you take these juvenile cases, well, you can talk about a young man
05:45 who indeed posted, you know, the Koran burning video, the one that took place in Northern
05:49 Europe on his social media, did not comment in favor of it, but simply asked questions
05:54 while he was arrested and indeed executed for that.
05:57 So you see, it's very wide ranging.
06:00 And it is indeed, in a sense, according to these NGOs, made to make to deter the public
06:05 from dissent.
06:06 All right, James, thank you for that.
06:08 France 24's James Andre.