MPs warn one country has reached sickening milestone with record executions | World | News
MPs have warned a brutal regime has carried out a record number of executions in bid to “cling to power”. The Islamic Republic of Iran government killed 204 prisoners, including six women, by hanging last month, the highest total since the Islamic revolution overthrew the monarchy of the Shah in 1979.
In total more than 1,100 Iranians have been executed so far this year – more than double the total for last year – according to Iran Human Rights Organisation, an independent NGO in Norway. UN experts warned of an “industrial scale” of executions with an average of nine hangings per day in recent weeks. This includes 39 women and 7 children, according to opposition groups, who say there are 17 political prisoners on death row.
State executions have soared following widespread protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was beaten by security forces for refusing to wear a headscarf in 2022. The regime rounded up 21,000 alleged ‘spies’ after the 12-day war with Israel earlier this year. Among those held for ‘spying’ is British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman, from East Sussex, who were motorcycling across Iran when they were stopped and arrested in January.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel said the mass executions in Iran were a sign of “authoritarian brutality”. She said: “Iran’s barbaric regime is brutally repressing its own people and conducting a brutal and horrifying mass execution of those seeing freedom and tolerance in their country.
“The Ayatollah’s regime uses death to terrorise the Iranian people and has even executed brave women’s rights protestors who dared to question its repressive policies.”
Labour MP Graeme Downie, added: “Iran’s weakened and discredited regime knows no bounds when it comes to repressing its own people. Executions of opponents – including women and young people – has exponentially increased into a reign of terror. Where is the international outcry against this brutal onslaught against civilians?”
Friday October 10 is World Day against the Death Penalty, an event which where groups across the world petition states to abolish capital punishment.
Lord Walney, former UK government adviser on political violence, said: “The Ayatollah knows he is haemorrhaging support from the oppressed people of Iran so is resorting to mass executions to cling to power.
“This matters to the UK too – British streets will be safer from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s (IRGC) terror and extremism once Iranian people find a way to free themselves from this horrendous regime.”
