Iran Executions Almost Doubled In 2022

A new report on the human rights situation in Iran indicates in comparison with the previous year, the number of executions increased by over 88 percent in 2022.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has released a 65-page report on Iran's rights violations based on collection, analysis, and documentation of over 13,000 reports from 267 news sources from January 1 to December 20, 2022.

A glance at the rights group’s recent report clearly shows a sharp rise in reported human rights violations since mid-September when the 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa (Jina) Amini died in the custody of the so-called “morality police” following which protests swept across the country.

The United Nations General Assembly on December 15 adopted a resolution to condemn serious rights violations by the Islamic Republic. The resolution entitled, “Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran” passed by a recorded vote of 80 in favor and 29 against, with 65 abstentions. The resolution called on the Islamic Republic to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, including by accepting repeated requests to visit the country.

The new draft resolution came just days after the Islamic Republic was voted out from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) for policies contrary to the rights of women and girls. This was the first time in United Nations’ history that a country was expelled from the commission. Passing the resolution was the second step against the Islamic Republic for violations of human rights during the current wave of protests.

The first step by the United Nations to hold the Islamic Republic accountable for its crackdown on protesters was creating a fact-finding mission by the Human Rights Council. The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council voted on November 24 to launch an independent investigation into the regime’s deadly repression of protests that has killed around 500 civilians, including about 60 children.

The number of protesters who have been detained since the current wave of protests began in September is estimated to be around 20,000 but there are no official figures. Authorities release some detainees regularly to make room for those arrested during each fresh round of protest rallies.

HRANA has reported that a total of 22,655 individuals were arrested in violation of their right to freedom of thought and expression while 331 others were summoned to judiciary and security authorities. The number of arrests from among members of religious minorities also indicates an increase of 145 percent in 2022 compared to 2021.

According to HRANA, at least 3,046 protests were held across 31 provinces during the said period out of which 1,289 were union rallies, 266 workers' rallies and 149 related to economic hardships. 1,297 of these were rallies against the suppression of freedom of expression, and 26 student union protests, with one gathering for the rights of children and 18 gatherings for environmental issues.

HRANA found that in addition to the rallies, at least 94 labor strikes and 225 union strikes as well as 344 non-union strikes were held across the country.

According to HRANA, at least 1,289 protests and 225 union strikes were held in 2022, with at least 43 reported instances of prevention of protest gatherings by force. HRANA says most of these protests were related to demands for fairer salary or wages and economic hardships. Apparently, most of the gatherings that were analyzed took place before the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, whose death upended the whole dynamics of protests across Iran.

In reports related to trade unions rallies, there was a 10-fold increase in the number of arrests, 11.5-fold rise in sentencing, and a 13-fold jump in imprisonments, compared to the previous year.

A total of 434 reports of violations of children’s rights were registered by the group in 2022. However, due to secrecy regarding these incidents, such violations could have been immensely underreported. Reports included at least 21,564 cases of child abuse, 23 cases of rape and sexual abuse, 41 murders of children, five self-immolation cases, 54 cases of child suicide, and at least one case of honor killing.