SHIRAZ, IRAN The two men in the photos were found guilty of the crime of rape and sentenced to death in accordance with Iranian law, which is in line with Islamic Sharia law. Their execution was carried out by hanging in public, which is one of the three ways of carrying out the death penalty in Iran. The others are stoning and, exceptionally, shooting. The public forms of execution are intended to deter other potential offenders.
Iran is one of the countries with the highest number of executions in the world. In 2022, and the following year, the number of people executed reached around 500 a year. Iran has been criticised for this by the United Nations and other international human rights organisations. However, it does not appear that Iran intends to move away from the death penalty. It also receives criticism because it is one of the few countries in the world where the death penalty is applied to juveniles.
In addition to rape and other sexual crimes, the death penalty in Iran can be obtained for murder, religious crimes, drug trafficking and anti-government acts. The judicial process is often inadequate and sometimes summary. It is no exception that confessions are preceded by prolonged torture.
Iran is also sometimes accused of applying the death penalty primarily to members of the Baloch minority, which could amount to targeted genocide. Around 30% of all those executed are members of this minority. However, this minority makes up only 6% of all Iranian citizens.
