'' In first weeks of January Iran hanged almost 50 people''

Seven prisoners were hanged in the prison of Kermanshah (western Iran) on Thursday, reported Iran Human Rights quoting Iranian state media. Five of the prisoners were convicted of trafficking of 102 kilograms of various narcotic drugs and two were convicted of murder said the report.  None of the prisoners were identified by name.
According to the official and unofficial reports received by Iran Human Rights near 50 people have been executed in different Iranian cities since the beginning of 2014.
The United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, and on summary executions, Christof Heyns, on 22 January called on the Government of Iran to urgently halt the abrupt surge in hangings in the country since the start of 2014.
“We are dismayed at the continued application of the death penalty with alarming frequency by the authorities, despite repeated calls for Iran to establish a moratorium on executions,” the independent experts said, stressing “the inherently cruel, inhuman and degrading nature of the death penalty.”
Of the approximately 50 persons that have been reportedly hanged in the first weeks of January, at least 33 executions were carried out in the past week alone. In the year 2013 it was reported that 625 executions, including at least 28 women and a number of political prisoners have been carried out. The majority of those executions were for drug-related offences, but a number of individuals were also executed for the crimes of Moharabeh (‘enmity against God’), or acting against national security.