Tehran: Iran has executed more than 500 people so far in 2022, the highest rate in five years.

According to the Norway-based human rights Iran Human Rights report, "The number of people executed in 2022 has now surpassed 500, the highest rate in five years."

The report released on Sunday further revealed that four men were executed in Rajai Shahr Prison on December 4. They are identified as Hossein Ordukhanzadeh, Shahin Imani Mahmoudabad, Milad Ashrafi Atbatan and Manouchehr Bejandi. They were sentenced to death for collaborating with Israeli intelligence services and kidnapping by the Revolutionary Court.

The report citing Islamic Republic's judiciary said that there were seven defendants in the case. The other three men were sentenced to 5-10 years imprisonment.

Stressing its opposition to the cruel and inhumane death penalty punishment, Iran Human Rights condemns its use for all charges and considers the execution of political prisoners on security-related charges to be in violation of international human rights law.

Director of the Iran Human Rights, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said, "These individuals were sentenced to death without due process or a fair trial behind the closed doors of the Revolutionary Court, their sentences lacked all legal validity. These executions are intended to create societal fear and divert public attention from the Islamic Republic's intelligence failures."

Last year, in Iran, at least 333 people were executed, according to the Iran Human Rights. The report further revealed that 55 executions, which contribute 16.5 per cent, were announced by official sources.

83.5 per cent of all executions included in the 2021 report (278 executions in total) were not announced by the authorities. At least 183 executions (55 per cent of all executions) were for murder charges, according to the report.

And 126 executions (38 per cent) were for drug-related charges, compared to 25 (10 per cent) in 2020. None of the drug-related executions was reported by official sources.

For the first time in more than 15 years, no public executions were reported in 2021.

Last year, at least 2 juvenile offenders were among those executed and 17 women were executed, compared to 9 in 2020.

At least 139 executions in 2021 and more than 3,758 executions since 2010 have been based on death sentences issued by the Revolutionary Courts.

At least 705 prisoners sentenced to death for murder charges were forgiven by the families of the murder victims per qisas laws.

According to the report, the qisas for murder are specified by Sharia law and, as long as the Penal Code is based on Sharia, Iranian authorities consider its removal a red line that cannot be crossed. They claim qisas as a private right that they cannot deny or control. According to the IPC, murder is punishable by qisas, allowing the victim's family to demand death as retribution.