A/HRC/25/26 during the election campaign to address serious human rights concerns, including by introducing a Citizens’ Rights Charter, eliminating discrimination against women and ethnic minorities, promoting freedom of expression and alleviating censorship. Although the draft Charter has been presented for public comments, it falls short of international human rights standards and fails to address concerns persistently raised by the United Nations human rights mechanisms. On 15 June 2013, the Secretary-General expressed his wish to engage with the President-elect and the Iranian authorities on issues of importance to the international community and the welfare of the Iranian people. He also expressed hope that the Government would take steps to fulfil the promises made by President Rouhani during the electoral campaign. 1. Executions 7. The Secretary-General is alarmed at the sharp rise in executions in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The new Government has not changed its approach regarding the application of the death penalty and seems to have followed the practice of previous administrations, which relied heavily on the death penalty to combat crime. On 11 December 2013, the chief of the judiciary noted that from a religious point of view, opposition to the death penalty challenges the decrees of Islam.2 In recent years, senior Iranian officials have acknowledged the ineffectiveness of the death penalty in addressing crime and suggested the need to review relevant laws. The revised Islamic Penal Code provides capital punishment for a wide range of offences that do not qualify as the “most serious crimes” under international law, including for drug-related offences, and retains stoning as a punishment.3 On 2 December 2013, at a press conference, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed alarm at the reported spike in executions of political prisoners, including in public, and the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences. She urged the Government to restrict and/or abolish the use of the death penalty in law and practice or to institute a moratorium. 8. An escalation in executions, including of political prisoners and individuals belonging to ethnic minority groups such as Baloch, Ahwazi Arabs and Kurds, was notable in the second half of 2013. At least 500 persons are known to have been executed in 2013, including 57 in public. According to some sources, the figure may be as high as 625. Those executed reportedly included 27 women and two children. The majority of the executions were carried out in relation to drug-related offences. In their comments on this report, the authorities attributed the increased number of executions to drug-trafficking and stressed that the death penalty was only considered for the most serious offences and only criminals that had perpetrated serious crimes were subject to capital punishment. The spike has continued in 2014. Over 40 persons are reported to have been executed during the first half of January. In a report to the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions expressed serious concerns about the surge in executions, following proceedings that did not meet international human rights standards on fair trial and due process guarantees, provided in article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He urged the Government to bring its domestic legislation and practice in conformity with international law.4 2 3 4 4 Semi-official news, Ghatreh, 11 December 2013, available at http://www.ghatreh.com/news/nn16968628. The Code provides the death penalty for adultery, incest, rape, sodomy, a non-Muslim party in samesex relations, insulting the Prophet Muhammad and other great prophets, possessing or selling illicit drugs, theft for the fourth time, muharaba (enmity against God), fesad-fil-arz (corruption on earth), espionage and crimes against national security (A/68/377, para 14). A/HRC/23/47/Add.5.