Use of capital punishment escalates in Iran

London: Iran has executed an average of almost two people every day in the first six months of this year, human rights groups have warned.

The sharp escalation in the use of capital punishment comes at the time when the Islamic regime is fighting to prevent pro-democracy movements similar to those that have been sweeping across the Middle East from taking hold in the country.

Human rights groups that have been carefully monitoring the rate of execution in Iran said authorities had launched a fresh campaign of secret and mass hangings of prisoners jailed in the provinces.

According to Amnesty International, Iran has acknowledged the execution of 190 people from the beginning of 2011 until the end of June but at least 130 other people have also been reported to have been executed.

Iran Human Rights (IHR), an independent NGO based in Norway, told the Guardian it had recorded 390 executions since January, including two death sentences administered on Thursday.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI), a US-based non-government organisation, said its records showed 320 executions; a combination of those publicly announced by the regime and those that have been taken place in secret.

Hadi Gaemi, executive director of the ICHRI, said: "The sharp rise of executions in Iran is a clear message that the state has no hesitation in using violence and applying it, no matter how arbitrarily, in holding on to power."

According to Gaemi, Iranian officials are using execution as a means to intimidate people to prevent popular discontent as the country heads towards the second anniversary of the unrest in the aftermath of the 2009 disputed presidential election.