The state-run ROKNA news agency reported on May 9, 2019, of the execution of the 88th woman during Rouhani’s tenure in October 2018, in Maraqeh, East Azerbaijan Province.
The 88th woman named Soudabeh had been imprisoned in the Prison of Maraqeh since 2006. She was hanged on October 26, 2018, upon the order of the Penal Court of East Azerbaijan Province. Soudabeh is the 88th woman executed in Iran during Hassan Rouhani’s tenure as the mullahs’ president.
Iran is a world record holder of per capita executions. Some 3,700 executions have been carried out in Iran only during nearly six years of Rouhani in office. Iran is the only country in the world that frequently sends women and minors to the gallows.
The Iranian regime uses the death penalty as a tool for suppression of a disgruntled society, the majority of whom live below the poverty line, do not have jobs and are deprived of freedom of speech. The death penalty helps the mullahs preserve their rule.
In a statement on October 5, 2018, condemning the execution of a woman in Iran, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, stressed that the UN Human Rights Office opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, as no judiciary in any part of the world is mistake-free.
There are at least 11 women imprisoned on death row in Qarchak Prison in Varamin, most of whom had committed murder in self-defense against domestic violence. A similar situation exists in other prisons across Iran where death row female prisoners accused of murder have defended themselves against violence.