The Times of Israel reports: “Iran executed at least 975 people last year in a ‘horrifying escalation’ of its use of capital punishment, two human rights groups said on Thursday.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and French group Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said the figure was the highest since IHR began recording executions in Iran in 2008.

The figure ‘reveals a horrifying escalation in the use of the death penalty by the Islamic Republic in 2024,’ they said in a joint report, accusing Iran of using the death penalty as a ‘central tool of political oppression.’

‘These executions are part of the Islamic republic’s war against its own people to maintain its grip on power,’ IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.

‘Five people were executed on average every single day in the last three months of the year as the threat of war between Iran and Israel escalated.’

It was unclear how exactly the rising regional tensions played a role, but Tehran frequently accuses people of espionage on behalf of Israel…”