UN says it’s ‘alarmed’ by surge in Iran executions since March

At least 56 people have been executed in Iran on national security-related charges since March 19, including 27 in cases linked to protests at the start of the year, says United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk.

“I am alarmed by the rise in executions and death sentences issued in Iran since March, and that capital punishment continues to be used to instil fear among the population and suppress dissent,” Turk says in a statement.

Iranian authorities killed thousands of people during anti-government protests in January, Iran’s worst domestic unrest in decades.

Rights groups say the government has continued to ​crack down on opponents during the war, sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran, since the end of February.

Turk says more than 100 people face the risk of execution on similar security-related charges, while executions for drug-related offenses are also continuing at an “alarming rate.”

He urges Tehran to halt all executions and move toward abolishing the death penalty, and raises concerns about what he described as failures to uphold fair trial and due process.