Iran executions surge 75 percent in 2022: rights groups

Iran hanged at least 582 people in 2022, a 75 percent rise in the number of executions over the previous year as protests shook the country, two rights groups said Thursday.

It was the highest number since 2015 and well above the figure of 333 in 2021, the report by Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said, denouncing a bid by Iran's leadership to "spread fear" among the population after protests erupted in September.