SW News: The Islamic Republic of Iran has become one big killing machine by executing at least 142 people last month. It is the highest number of death sentences carried out in a month since 2015. There are also reports that as of June 1, 307 people were executed in Iran this year and it marks a 76 percent rise compared to the same period last year.

In this shocking scenario, Iran Human Rights has urged the global community to put pressure on Tehran to stop such executions or risk facing punitive action. Director of the NGO Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said the Iranian government is intensifying the arbitrary executions in order to “spread societal fear to prevent protests and prolong its rule. If the international community doesn’t show a stronger reaction to the current wave of executions, hundreds more will fall victim to their killing machine in the coming months”.

The NGO’s figures reveal that out of the 307 people executed this year, 59 percent were killed for drug-related charges and they account for 180 inmates. Last month, among the 142 executions was a woman. Twenty-one percent of the death row inmates executed in May belonged to Baloch minorities.

The Iranian government has expanded the ambit of charges deemed to be fit to deserve the death sentence from drugs to strike terror in the hearts of people. Among those killed were two people accused of blasphemy and one was charged with adultery.

In yet another shocking revelation, four men were executed for feeble charges of drug-related offenses. The 2022 Annual Death Penalty Report in Iran compiled by IHRNGO and ECPM says that the killings went up by 85 percent compared to 2021. Analyzing the rate of executions in the first five months of this year, one can notice that the upward trend is continuing with intensity just like the second half of last year.