Executions in Iran rose alarmingly by 25% last year and surged after hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi was elected president, two campaign groups say. At least 333 people were put to death, according to Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and France’s Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM). The number of executions for drug-related offences – 126 – was five times higher than in 2020, their report says. The figures are based both on official announcements and sources inside Iran. In October, a UN human rights expert warned that almost all executions in Iran were “an arbitrary deprivation of life” and urged the country to end the imposition of the death penalty where it is in violation of international law. Under Iran’s penal code, people can be executed for crimes that are not considered among “the most serious” under international law, such as drug trafficking.(BBC)…[+]