At least 537 people, including 68 minors, have been killed by Iranian security forces since anti-government protests began in September following the death of young Kurdish-Iranian girl Mahsa Amini for improperly wearing the veil, according to data from the non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights (IHR).
Most were killed in the first months of protests. The Islamic Republic also executed four protesters after sham trials without due process, which were met with a strong reaction from the international community,» the NGO said in a statement.
In particular, IHR has warned that these figures only represent the deaths that occurred during the protests in the streets. Executed protesters and those who died in suspicious circumstances (including alleged suicides) shortly after their release are not included in these statistics,» it said.
By provinces, Sistan and Baluchestan accounted for 134 deaths, followed by Tehran (69), Kurdistan (57) people, West Azerbaijan (56), Mazandaran (41), Alborz (31), Gilan (28), Kermanshah (24), Isfahan (19), Khuzestan (17), Fars (15), Khorasan-Razavi (9) East Azerbaijan (5), Qazvin (5), Zanjan (3), Lorestan (3), Markazi (3), Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad (3), Hamedan, (2), Ardabil (2), Ilam (2), Bushehr (2), Hormozgan (2), Golestan (2), Semnan (1) and North Khorasan (1).
On the other hand, the NGO has also counted 309 people executed in Iran in the same period of time, of which 180 were sentenced to death, a »tool of intimidation», on drug-related charges.
»The international community’s lack of reaction to the daily executions may lead to an unprecedented wave of executions of people accused of drug offenses, the low-cost victims of the Islamic Republic’s execution machine,» lamented its director, Mahmud Amiri Moghaddam.
The demonstrations broke out in September and represented one of the biggest recent challenges to Iran’s current leadership, which has gone from harshly repressing the demonstrations to adopting, since March, a less belligerent position, with the pardoning of 22,000 detainees.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
