The mullahs’ regime ruling Iran has been severely escalating the number of executions across the country as 71 were hanged through the course of one month and 28 in one week alone. The Secretariat of the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) issued a statement on August 25 providing names, dates, and places of these recent executions throughout August. Back in March the mullahs’ regime executed 14 prisoners in several cities.
This is the mullahs’ response to a growing wave of protests by people from all walks of life in Iran. Regime authorities are focused on preventing such a new tide of protests rendering yet another uprising that can rock the country to the core at a time when tens of millions are grappling with poverty and many cities are facing severe water shortages.
The first year of Ebrahim Raisi’s presidency has witnessed a dramatic rise in executions throughout Iran. Unfortunately, what goes unnoticed in the West and mainstream media is the fact that this recent wave of capital punishment in Iran coincides with western appeasement during the ongoing nuclear talks with the mullahs’ regime. The more concessions offered to Tehran, the more regime authorities feel emboldened to send more Iranians to the gallows without any accountability from the international community.
The United Nations, the European Union and its member states, and human rights organizations across the globe need to condemn the Iranian regime and take action to bring a halt to executions in Iran. An international fact-finding committee should be dispatched to visit Iran’s prisons and meet with the prisoners personally. Tehran should see its dossier of horrendous human rights violations referred to the UN Security Council, and senior regime officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Raisi face justice.
In May, Amnesty International warned that Iran has seen the highest number of executions in 2021, since Ebrahim Raisi became the regime’s president.
“Iran accounted for the biggest portion of this rise, executing at least 314 people (up from at least 246 in 2020), its highest execution total since 2017. This was due in part to a marked increase in drug-related executions—a flagrant violation of international law which prohibits the use of the death penalty for crimes other than those involving intentional killing,” according to the Amnesty International report. The actual number of executions are most likely higher.
Iran’s regime is faced with a growingly restive society, with protests erupting in every corner of the country on a regular basis. Iran is faced with an economic crisis, caused by the regime’s corruption, mismanagement, and refusal to back down from its destructive policies, including nuclear bombs, ballistic missiles, and terrorism.
While many protests are triggered by economic woes, they quickly turn into full anti-regime demonstrations that call for regime change. In the past months, Iran has seen several rounds of intense protests, in which protesters clashed with security forces and refused to back down in face of the regime’s repressive forces.
Under such circumstances, instead of responding to the people’s just demands, the regime has doubled down on crackdown and repression. The new wave of executions comes at the same time as it is taking other repressive measures in schools, universities, and public offices. The regime aims to establish a climate of fear and intimidation throughout the Iranian society.
This is why we are witnessing even more oppression and executions parallel to the country’s economy crumbling and more people being pushed into poverty.
The history of dictatorial regimes, however, has shown that heavy crackdowns and executions will prove counterproductive. There comes a time that such measures will not only fail to lessen the dictator’s concerns but in fact further fuel the fire of social outcries. This is the dangerous phase that the mullahs’ regime currently faces.