The Iranian regime executed at least 27 prisoners during January 2021, according to Iran Human Rights Monitor, although due to the regime’s secrecy the true number may be much higher.

Of those executed that we do know about, there were four political prisoners, six non-violent drug convicts, and one person found guilty of rape, but none of these crimes meet the international standard for the death penalty, which is murder. And the political prisoners committed no crime at all, merely expressing their belief.

Even for the 16 convicted of murder, we should bear in mind that Iran does not separate murder by degrees or take into consideration the reason for murder, i.e., in the case of victims of abuse killing their abusers. Iran also uses torture to extract false confessions.

Let’s look at some of those executed.

Baluch political prisoner Javid Dehghan, 31, was sentenced to death after being convicted of killing security forces because of confessions made under torture. The United Nations asked Iran not to execute him.

Political prisoner Ali Matiri was sentenced to death after being found guilty of the intentionally vague charges “Moharebeh” and “corruption on earth”, again based on confessions made under torture.

Baluch political prisoners Hassan Dehvari, 28, and Elias Qalandarzehi, 21, were killed for “armed measures against the police and collaboration with an armed dissident group”, even though American human rights group, the Baloch Campaign, reported that they were actually killed for the families’ opposition to the regime.

Those executed for non-violent drug-related crimes include:

• Farzad Mohammad Noureh
• Mehdi Joshani
• Majid Rigi
• Anvar Alizehi
• Abdulrauf Kabdani
• Anwar Naroui
• Shamsuddin Soleimani, who said repeatedly that the drugs found in his car were not his and were left by a passenger

Of those executed for murder, many were young people who could have paid their debt to society and turned their life around, but we’ll focus in on the ones where the death penalty should not have been applied according to international law.

• Taxi driver Jama Daroozehi was arrested in 2017 for killing a man during a fight, which would probably amount to manslaughter.
• Wrestler and protester Mehdi Ali Hosseini was the subject of an international campaign to spare his life.
• An unnamed woman from Sanandaj who probably committed murder due to abuse or poverty.

Iran Human Rights Monitor again urged the United Nations Secretary-General, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Council, and all human rights groups, as well as the European Union and its member states, to “condemn ongoing executions in Iran and take immediate action to save the lives of prisoners on the death row”.