Washington Urges Iran to Halt Executions

The United States on Monday urged Iran to halt executions with the US State Department saying it was "particularly troubled" by the hanging of a Dutch-Iranian woman after she was denied consular access.

"The United States is deeply concerned that Iran continues to deny its citizens their human rights," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement late Monday.

"We are particularly troubled by the recent execution of Dutch-Iranian national Zahra Bahrami, who was denied access to Dutch consular officials," Crowley added.

Bahrami, a 46-year-old Iranian-born naturalized Dutch citizen, was reportedly arrested in December 2009 after joining an anti-government protest while visiting relatives in the Islamic republic.

She was later charged with drug trafficking. Authorities said they found cocaine and opium in her house.

The Netherlands meanwhile froze contacts with Iran following Saturday's execution.

"Her execution is one of dozens carried out in recent weeks amid serious questions about the motives of the Iranian government and whether these prisoners were granted their rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," Crowley said.

"The United States urges the Iranian government to halt these executions and to guarantee the rights of its citizens in accordance with its international obligations."

In the wake of the diplomatic storm after Bahrami's hanging, Human Rights Watch (HRW), warned that Iran was on target to execute a record number of over 1,000 people this year.

Earlier Monday European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned her execution, saying she was "dismayed" Iranian authorities denied Bahrami access to consular officials before her execution and failed to ensure a "fair and transparent judicial process."

Concerned about a "steep increase" in executions, Ashton wants Iran to "halt all pending executions immediately and declare a moratorium on the death penalty," her spokeswoman Maja Kocijanci told reporters in Brussels.

Many groups say Iran has the highest per capita execution rate in the world.

In 2009, the last year for which complete statistics are available, Iran executed at least 388 people and was second only to China in how many people it put to death, according to Amnesty International.

Rights groups believe there was a sharp rise in 2010 and with Bahrami's death, HRW estimates that at least 74 prisoners have been executed since January 1. An AFP toll based on Iranian media reports found at least 66.

"At the current rate, authorities will easily have executed more than 1,000 prisoners before 2011 draws to a close," HRW's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said in a statement Sunday.

HRW's Middle East researcher Faraz Sanei meanwhile denounced "the Iranian judiciary's serious lack of transparency surrounding the execution of individuals convicted of crimes carrying the death penalty."(AFP)