UN Rights Chief Türk: Iran Executes 56 Since March

UN human rights chief Volker Türk said Tuesday he is alarmed by a sharp rise in executions in Iran, with at least 56 people put to death since March on charges related to national security, according to a statement from his office in Geneva. The pace marks one of the steepest increases in state executions Iran has recorded in years.

Of those, 27 executions were tied to cases stemming from the mass protests that swept the country in January, Türk's office said, adding that many defendants were reportedly denied access to lawyers and fair trial guarantees before being sentenced and executed within weeks of their arrest.

The UN human rights office urged Tehran to halt the executions immediately and review the death sentences, warning that the pace of state killings risks further straining relations with Western governments already at odds with Iran over its nuclear program, missile activity and role in regional conflicts.