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UN: Iran Executes People at "Alarming Rate" - 250 in 2020
(AP-Washington Post) Edith M. Lederer - Iran executed over 250 people, including at least four child offenders, in 2020 and so far this year has carried out 230 executions that included nine women and one child, Javaid Rehman, the UN independent investigator on human rights in Iran, said Monday. "The heavy reliance by courts on forced confessions extracted under torture and other fair trial violations lead me to conclude that the imposition of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran constitutes arbitrary deprivation of life," Rehman said. He pointed to "persistent impunity for serious violations of human rights law," including those committed by people in powerful positions and "at the highest level of public office." He cited "the alarming level of intimidation or persecution of those who call for accountability," citing the high number of acts of reprisals against families of victims, human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists who seek justice. There also has been "a heightened targeting of minority groups and advocates of minority rights." In addition, "the use of lethal force against peaceful protesters continues to be characteristic of the authorities' approach to the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly," including the lethal use of live ammunition against unarmed people.