Two women were executed by hanging in Iran’s infamous Isfahan Prison on 9 July, Norway-based human rights watchdog Hengaw reported on Tuesday.
The recent executions bring the total of women executed in the country to 215 since 2007, according to the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). Both women had been convicted of murder.
Monireh Siadat, a 32-year-old dressmaker, had been imprisoned for three years after killing her husband whom she had been forced to marry. Details regarding the case of Farzieh Shokrollahi, who was arrested and detained around five years ago, remain undisclosed.
The news of the executions had not been officially announced at the time of the NCRI report.
The NCRI Women’s Committee reports that many of the women executed in Iran are victims of domestic violence who resort to self-defence.
Iran holds the distinction of surpassing other governments as the global leader in executing women, for countries where the figures are available.
In 2019, the Iranian regime executed 16 women as part of its escalating campaign of suppression and increased executions within the country. Six women were executed in December of that year in different prisons across Iran.
In 2021, a total of 18 women fell victim to the regime’s use of the death penalty.
The NCRI Women’s Committee’s data suggest that in 2022 at least 15 women were executed in Iran.
With the recent executions of Siadat and Shokrollahi, the tally of women executed in 2023 rises to eight.
The Iranian regime’s use of the death penalty disproportionately affects religious and ethnic minorities, political dissidents and women. Recent reports from human rights organisations indicate that Iran carried out over 350 executions in the first half of 2023 with over 42 percent of the victims belonging to Kurdish and Baluch minority communities.
