According to the Iran Human Rights Organization, this decrease is due to a change in the law related to drug offenses that was implemented in Iran from November 2017.
This human rights organization wrote in its report that only 34 percent of these executions were announced by official authorities of the Islamic Republic, and the Iran Human Rights Organization succeeded in confirming the remaining cases through its sources within Iran.
The report states that approximately 70 percent of the executions last year in Iran were carried out in connection with charges of premeditated murder, and at least 24 people were also executed in relation to drug-related crimes, which is considerably lower than the number of executions related to this category of crimes in 2017.
Among other matters that the Iran Human Rights Organization criticized in its report is the judicial process that leads to the issuance and execution of death sentences in Iran.
This organization accused Iranian judicial authorities of systematic violation of the right to fair trial and violation of laws of the accused, and further stated that many confessions from the accused are extracted under pressure and torture, and these confessions form the basis for the trial of these individuals.
The execution of three Kurdish prisoners named Zanyar Moradi, Loghman Moradi, and Ramin Hoseinpanahi, Mohammad Sallash, one of the Gonabadi Dervishes, as well as the execution of several people charged with economic crimes, are among other matters that this human rights organization criticized.
The execution of at least six “child offenders,” people who were under 18 years old at the time of committing the crime, is among other matters mentioned in the Iran Human Rights Organization’s report.
According to this human rights organization, the Islamic Republic of Iran is the only country that has continued to execute offenders under 18 years of age in recent years.
A matter that has consistently been criticized by the United Nations and human rights advocates in recent years.
Human rights advocates say that offenders under 18 years old are considered children and their execution violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Iran joined the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1993 and had it approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament).
The Iranian Judiciary keeps accused persons who commit crimes before the age of 18 imprisoned for several years and then executes them after they turn 18.
This is while human rights advocates say that in these cases, the age at the time of committing the crime should be the basis for judgment.
Amnesty International also announced in its latest report on this matter that more than 90 juvenile offenders are waiting for their death sentences to be carried out in Iranian prisons, all of whom were under 18 years old at the time of committing the crime.
According to the Iran Human Rights Organization, the Islamic Republic of Iran, in terms of the high number of executions, still ranks second in the world.
