Executions in Iran surged to nearly 1,000 in 2015, the highest level in more than a quarter of a century, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Iran reported in March.
Dr Ahmed Shaheed reported to the UN Human Rights Council that at least 966 people were put to death in Iran last year, roughly double the number executed in 2010 and ten times as many as in 2005. Most executions in Iran are by hanging, with a majority of the condemned having been convicted of drug-related offences. Dr Shaheed underlined that the executions often happen without the most basic due-process and fair-trial rights and for ill-defined crimes, such as ‘enmity against God’. However, numerous Christians who have spent time in prison for their faith have met and befriended people on death row. A few have been led to the Lord through their witness.
