Iran's prisons are now 'mass killing sites' as executions rise, says Amnesty

Evin Prison in Tehran Photo: UPI/Alamy Stock Photo

These courts “repeatedly rely on torture-tainted “confessions” to convict and sentence people to death,” Amnesty noted.

Iran also executed at least five minors in 2023, all teenage boys who were under 18 at the time of the crime.< /p>

One shocking case was that of Hamidreza Azari, a minor who was 17 years old at the time of his execution. Azari was hanged in Sabzevar prison in November last year after he gave a “forced confession” that was shown on state media.

State media also misrepresented his age as 18 «to evade responsibility,» Amnesty said.

Iran is one of the few countries in the world to use the death penalty for juvenile offenders under 18, although such executions prohibited. prohibited by international law.

Amnesty also identified more than 80 people on death row who were under 18 at the time of their alleged crimes, some on death row for more than ten years.

The death penalty has also disproportionately affected the suppressed Baloch ethnic minority, which accounts for one-third of drug-related executions in Iran, although the group makes up only five percent of the country's population.

Amnesty drew attention to torture used by security forces in Evin prison near Tehran. Photo: Roger Parks/Alamy Stock Photo

Iran has seen a sharp rise in executions as authorities wage a brutal crackdown following nationwide mass protests in late 2022 that posed one of the biggest challenges to Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The 2022 demonstrations were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman allegedly tortured to death while in the custody of Iranian morality police for allegedly wearing the hijab incorrectly.

Iran comes in second second only to China in the world for the number of executions.

Iran's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.