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Two men, both 23, Majid Reza Rahnavard and Mohsen Shekari, were hanged in December after they were accused of “moharebe”, a broad term meaning against God, in connection with a large-scale rebellion led by women and girls. nation last year.
Amnesty’s report comes as executions have escalated over the past five months in Iran. At least 209 people have been killed since January, according to the United Nations.
“On average so far this year, more than 10 people have been killed every week in Iran, making it one of the highest executioners in the world,” UN human rights chief Volker Türk said in a statement this month.
“The numbers are shocking,” said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, a UK-based research organisation. He said the executions, especially of young people, “are intended to send a clear and unambiguous message that dissent will not be tolerated.”
The Amnesty report also noted a significant increase in executions in Kuwait, Myanmar and the Gaza Strip. But the global increase is countered by signs that governments around the world are increasingly moving away from the death penalty. Four countries, the Central African Republic, Kazakhstan, Papua New Guinea and Sierra Leone, abolished the death penalty for all crimes.
For the 14th consecutive year, the United States was the only country to execute people in the Americas, with 18 executions – the fewest by the country since 1991. New death sentences and public support for the death penalty also remained at their lowest level in many decades. , according to a report by the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit group that opposes the death penalty.
Vivian Nereim contribute reports.
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