Iran executed seven men Wednesday on drug and rape charges, rights groups said, amid the UN denouncing of the "frighteningly" high number of executions in the country in the first five months of the year.
Three men were executed on drug-related charges in Ghezal Hesar prison in the city of Karaj outside Tehran, said Iran Human Rights (IHR), a Norway-based NGO. It added that four other men were hanged on rape charges in Rajai Shahr prison, also in Karaj.
The judiciary's Mizan Online website confirmed the three executions on drug charges, saying the convicts were "members of the Panjak gang, the largest cocaine distribution cartel, which was one of the main drug cartels in the country."
"Six members of the gang were arrested in 2014," Mizan said, adding that "at the time of arrest, one kilogram of cocaine, opium, and methamphetamine were recovered from the members of this gang."
IHR said the latest hangings mean Iran has seen at least 64 executions in the last 12 days alone.
"The killing machine of the government is accelerating -- its goal is to intimidate the people and its victims are the weakest people in society," said IHR director Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam.
The Norway-based IHR posted footage which it said showed families of the three men executed on drug charges protesting outside Ghezel Hesar prison in a last-ditch bid to stop the hangings.
Gunfire was audible in the video, and it said police used tear gas and batons to disperse the protest. One family member was hospitalized with severe injuries after being beaten, it added.
Iran executed on Saturday Swedish-Iranian Habib Chaab over the charge of "terrorism", two years after kidnapping him in Istanbul.
Iran is the second country globally after China in issuing death sentences, according to Amnesty International.
Since January 1, at least 209 people have been executed - mostly for drug-related offenses, according to the United Nations. The UN said on Tuesday that the exact number of executions is likely to be higher.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk expressed dismay at the frighteningly high number of executions this year in Iran.
"On average so far this year, over 10 people are put to death each week in Iran, making it one the world’s highest executors," said Turk.
"At this rate, Iran is worryingly on the same track as last year when around 580 people were reportedly executed," he added. "This is an abominable record."
Rights activists say that a remarkable increase in death penalties was recorded in Iran in parallel with the protests that erupted in September last year following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini after she was arrested for violating Iran’s strict dress rules for women.
Iran hanged at least 582 people in 2022, a 75 percent rise over the previous year, two rights groups said in April.
It was the highest number since 2015, the report by IHR and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said.
The report denounced a bid by Iran’s leadership to "spread fear" among the population after las year’s protests over Amini’s death.
The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said the supreme court had confirmed death sentences against three men over the alleged killing of a Basij militiaman during protests in the city of Isfahan in November.
It described the executions as a "killing spree" to "silence dissent."
Rights groups have warned that members of ethnic minorities - in particular the predominantly Sunni Baluch minority - have been disproportionately targeted by the current wave of executions.
