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UN report: Iran executes nearly 1,000 people in 2015

Human rights activists say the nuclear deal and recent elections open a “window of opportunity” to pressure the Islamic Republic to improve its record on human rights.
An Iranian policeman checks his gun before the hanging of Majid Kavousifar and Hossein Kavousifar in Tehran August 2, 2007. Iran hanged Majid and Hossein, the killers of a judge who had jailed several reformist dissidents, before a crowd of hundreds of people on Thursday. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN) - RTR1SGDH

Iran last year maintained its grim record of executing more people per capita than any other country in the world, the majority for drug-related offenses, according to the latest report by Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran.

The report, which was shared with Al-Monitor in advance, states that Iranian authorities executed between 966 and 1,054 people in 2015, including four people under the age of 18. The total reflects a tenfold rise over the past decade and exceeds the 2014 figure by more than 200.

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