GENEVA
At least 753 people were executed in Iran in 2014, which was the highest total recorded in the past 12 years, a U.N. report, which will be presented on March 16 to the U.N. Human Rights Council, said.
"Nearly half of all executions were for drug-related crimes," according to Ahmed Shaheed, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran.
The death sentences included the execution of 25 women and 53 public executions, the report noted. Executions in the country in 2013 were 687 and were 580 in 2012.
The drug-related crimes "do not meet the internationally-accepted threshold of the 'most serious crimes' required for the use of the death penalty," the report said.
"Authorities should immediately nullify the death sentences against all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience," Shaheed added.
