Iran’s regime does not publish official figures on executions but the number of executions since the beginning of 2009 exceeds 170.
Iran under the mullahs currently ranks first for per capita executions in the world.
On May 9, Ali Ghashghavi, spokesman for the Iranian regime’s Foreign Ministry, responded to widespread international protests against the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran and the increasing trend of arbitrary executions, specifically the execution of minors.
He brazenly defended these punishments, saying, “We have serious differences with the West over democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression. … We even have very serious problems over an issue like execution. … This year, Amnesty International has said that the total number of the dead is 3,000. … These are serious human rights discussions.”
In a statement the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Monday said: "The Iranian regime’s explicit and unveiled support for systematic and cruel human rights violations makes more urgent the imperative of referring Iran’s human rights violations dossier to the UN Security Council for adoption of binding measures against the religious fascism ruling Iran. The clerical regime is a stain on today’s humanity, has no relevance whatsoever to the 21st Century and must be shunned by the international community."