UN expert highlights "surge" in executions in Iran

UN human rights rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed said at least 850 people had been executed in the past 15 months, with the situation appearing to actually worsen under reformist President Hassan Rouhani.

Shaheed described a "surge in executions" that had given Iran the world's highest death penalty rate per capita. Introducing his latest report at the UN in New York on Monday, Shaheed lamented the nature of crimes considered to be capital offenses in the Islamic Republic.

"The range of capital crimes is shocking," Shaheed told journalists, adding that an execution had been carried out in one case because the person made a donation to a foreign organization.

"At least 852 individuals were executed in the period since June of last year, including eight juveniles," he said.

"I also noted a widening of the range of offenses for which people are being put to death, including economic crimes as well as in some cases, clear political activities."

'Failure to arrest trend'

The period mentioned roughly corresponds to Rouhani's period of office so far, the president having come to power on August 3, 2013. In 2011, there were 687 executions compared with 580 in 2012.

The investigator did not blame Rouhani himself, noting that the president of Iran had to cede the final say on key matters of state to the clerical office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini. However, Shaheed did express frustration that the president had not been able to stop the phenomenon and lacked political backing for his reformist agenda.

"He is unable to address the issues - unable to arrest this trend, to convert his promises which spoke to arresting this trend into action," said Shaheed.

Tehran criticized over hanging

The rapporteur also described himself as "shocked" by the execution on Saturday of Reyhaneh Jabbari.

The UN, US, EU and human rights groups, have all criticized Iran for the execution.

The 26-year-old was convicted of murdering a man, whom she alleged was trying to rape her at the time. After a seven-year investigation, Jabbari's self-defense claim was rejected and she was hanged for premeditated murder.

"I have raised issues about her conviction on several occasions with the government of Iran and have not received a satisfactory reply with regard to the points raised, essentially about the fairness of the trial that she was given," he added.

The victim's family could have saved Jabbari by accepting blood money, but they refused to do so.

Since he was appointed in 2011, Shaheed has not been allowed to visit Iran. Senior Iranian judicial official Mohammad Javad Larijani on Monday called Ahmad Shaheed a "media actor" and accused him of issuing politically motivated reports.

Shaheed said he was not surprised that Larijani had at the same time announced that he was once again banned from visiting.

rc/lw (AFP, dpa, Reuters)