Iran has executed five people who had been sentenced to death on drug-related charges and one political prisoner, human rights groups say.
Already being criticized globally for its high number of executions, Iran has seen a sharp rise in the number of death penalties amid popular uprisings that hit the country in the last six months.
The Islamic Republic uses the death penalty widely, including as a tool of repression against dissent and ethnic minorities. Executions are often carried out after unfair trials.
The Harana human rights website says Ashi Abbasnejad, Mohammad Ayoubian, Yasin Rashidi, Jahanbakhsh Radlouyi and a woman identified only as Nasreen were executed in Urmia Central Prison at dawn on March 16.
They had been sentenced to capital punishment on drug-related charges.
Meanwhile, Kurdish Human Rights Organization Hengaw reported that a Kurdish political prisoner, Mohiyedin Ebrahimi, was also executed in Urmia Central Prison. According to the News agency, Ebrahimi’s younger brother and their father were also killed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards years ago.
The reported executions come a day after the Iran Human Rights group said that at least 138 people have been executed in the first two and a half months of this year, compared to 67 during the same period in 2020.
It said the number of drug-related executions had increased from four to 88 during the same period.
