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Iranwire – The Islamic Republic of Iran executed four prisoners as death penalties continue to rise in the country.
Death sentences were carried out for four prisoners at Arak and Karaj prisons. The prisoner include Javad Askari, Ali Reza Aghaei, Pezhman Azizi, and an inmate known as “Shahram,” who had been previously convicted of premeditated murder and drug-related offenses.
Ali Reza Aghaei had been sentenced to death five years ago for premeditated murder, while Pezhman Azizi and Shahram faced the same fate for drug-related offenses.
Javad Askari, a prisoner from Arak convicted of premeditated murder, had his execution sentence carried out at the Central Prison of Arak.
The news of these executions had not been disclosed in government-affiliated media outlets, particularly those aligned with the State.
In the past couple of weeks, Iran has witnessed a surge in the execution of prisoners.
However, these coincided with the conflict with Israel, diverting international attention away from the executions.
According to a report by Amnesty International, Iran has reached its highest level of death sentence execution in the last eight years, with the judiciary of the Islamic Republic executing 853 people in 2023 alone.
The report indicates that 481 executions, more than half of the total, were related to drug crimes.
This marks an 89 percent increase in the death penalty compared to 2022 when 255 people were executed for drug-related offenses. The latest numbers also show a staggering 264 percent increase compared to 2021, when 132 individuals faced execution for similar charges.
