[JURIST] The UN released a report [materials] on Tuesday stating that Iran’s human rights situation remains alarming despite the signing [JURIST report] of the nuclear deal earlier this month. The report, published by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran Ahmed Shaheed [official website], stated that although the nuclear deal and lifted economic sanctions could “potentially have a beneficial multiplier effect on the human rights situation in the country,” the country still has serious issues with human rights. The report says that the country could potentially execute more than 1,000 people this year and that women are still treated as second-class citizens. It also notes that the country leads the world in executions per capita, with 753 executions last year. There have been 690 executions this year already, which is most likely the highest for a nine-month period in over 25 years.

Much international pressure has been directed toward Iran in recent years for its human rights abuses. Earlier this month UN human rights experts condemned [JURIST report] Iran’s execution of a juvenile offender convicted of murdering her husband whom she was forced to marry at the age of 16. She was executed despite several reports of flaws in her trial and appeals process. Also earlier this month an Iranian Revolutionary Court convicted [JURIST report] Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, approximately two months after the end of his trial. Rezaian was accused of espionage for allegedly collecting confidential information, handing it to hostile governments and acting against national security. However, it is unclear on exactly which charges he was convicted or if he was notified about his conviction. In May UN human rights experts condemned [JURIST report] the growing number of executions in Iran in recent years. According to the Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Iran and on extrajudicial executions, Iran had executed approximately six people per day between April 9 and April 26 and 350 total up to that point.