Iran executed 834 people last year, including 22 women, a record number. The uprisings sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurd who was beaten for improperly adjusting her veil, were bloodily repressed.
Iran, which has one of the highest rates of opioid users in the world, is a main route for drugs from neighboring Afghanistan to Europe and the Middle East. Iranian law provides for the death penalty for trafficking more than 5 kg of substances derived from opium or more than 30 g of heroin.