UN rights office decries ‘alarmingly high’ number of executions in Iran: 29 over two days this week

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office is expressing concerns about reports that Iran has executed 29 people over two days this week, with the rights chief decrying “an alarmingly high number” of executions in such a short period of time.

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday it has verified 38 people were executed in July, bringing the total number of executions to at least 345 this year — mostly for drug offenses or murder — including 15 women.

“Imposing the death penalty for offenses not involving intentional killing is incompatible with international human rights norms and standards,” rights office spokeswoman Liz Throssell told a U.N. briefing Friday.

“U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk is extremely concerned about reports that, in the space of two days this week, Iranian authorities reportedly executed at least 29 people across the country,” she said. “This represents an alarmingly high number of executions in such a short period of time.”

Throssell said minorities including Kurds, Arabs and Baloch were disproportionately affected by the executions. Some prisoners were executed without their families or lawyers being told.

The United Nations has had longstanding concerns about executions in Iran, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a report in November decrying the “alarming rate” of them in the Islamic Republic.