Iranian authorities executed three women on Wednesday for murdering their husbands. They were among 32 people executed in the last week alone, according to the Iran Human Rights Group.
Among them was a former child bride convicted of murdering the man she had married when she was 15 years old. Authorities are thought to have significantly increased their use of the death penalty, executing twice as many people this year as last.
According to human rights organisations, Iran also executes more women than any other country, the vast majority of whom are thought to have been found guilty of murdering their husbands. According to the Iran Human Rights Group, former child bride Soheila Abadi was hanged in prison on Wednesday after being convicted of murdering her husband ten years earlier when she was 15 years old.
The sentencing court stated that the murder was motivated by “family disputes.” According to the group, two other women executed on Wednesday were also convicted of murdering their husbands.
Activists stated that many of the cases involve allegations of domestic violence, but Iranian courts frequently fail to take this into account. According to a study published in April by two human rights organisations, only 16.5 percent of executions believed to have occurred in Iran last year were announced by officials.
Iran’s executions will skyrocket in 2021, according to a new report.
In how many countries is the death penalty still used?
According to reports this year, the use of the death penalty has increased even more since then. Amnesty International accused Iran this week of going on a “horrific” execution spree in recent months, putting more than 250 people to death in the first six months of 2022, more than doubling the number executed in the same period the previous year.
According to the rights group, some of those convicted have been executed in mass executions, including a dozen people in one prison on June 15 and the same number in another prison on June 6.
Statistics show that ethnic minorities are also overrepresented. Despite constituting only about 5% of Iran’s total population, members of the Baluchi minority account for more than one-quarter of those believed to have been executed this year by Amnesty International.