Iran execution rate sparks UN concern

GENEVA—The UN’s human rights office says it is “deeply concerned” about the high number of executions in Iran this year.

At least 80 people have been executed in the past seven weeks, seven of them publicly, according to the Geneva-based office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Citing “reliable sources,” it says the number of executions could be as high as 95.

Most of the executions were for drug-related offences, which aren’t among the “most serious crimes” for which international law allows the death penalty, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said Friday.

Shamdasani said the global body regretted that the reformist government, which came into office last August, didn’t change Iran’s approach to the death penalty.

Last year between 500 and 625 people were executed in Iran.

Read more on thestar.com:

Toronto activist Maryam Nayeb Yazdi is heroine to Iranian prisoners

Canadian returns after five-year ordeal in Iranian prison

Man who survived first execution may escape re-hanging, says IranEND