judicial structure. This could result in biased investigations into cases of mistreatment and
arbitrary deprivation of life in detention facilities.
Regarding Iran’s drug law, a reform restricting the use of capital punishment was made in 2017.
The bill amends article 45 of the law of October 1988 on Combating drugs. This represents an
improvement since it has reduced the number of executions for infractions not amounting to
most serious crimes. The amendment, however, only reduces, not eliminates entirely, the number
of drug convictions one can be sentenced to death for.
Between 2000 and mid-2017, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran has
documented around 8,200 executions carried out by Iran’s judiciary.16 Between January 1, 2018
and December 20, 2018, 256 reports have been registered by the Human Rights Activists
Association in Iran. This included 195 death sentences, and 236 people with death sentences
were executed (including 13 public executions). Based on the announced identifications of some
of the individuals executed, 232 were male and 4 were female. 6 of those executed were juvenile
offenders who were under the age of 18 at the time of committing the crime. No issuance of
stoning sentences has been reported in the last few years.17 Photos show that children are
frequently present at public executions.18
Recommendation Status:
This recommendation has been PARTIALLY implemented.19
16
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran
Numbers based on articles submitted to HRANA statistics center.
18
Iran Human Rights and ECPM, Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran 2019 (2020), 38.
19
For more, please see: https://www.ecpm.org/wp-content/uploads/Rapport-iran-2020-gb-070420-WEB.pdf
17
4