Amnesty International has now recorded the names of more than 1,700 people alleged to have been the victims of political execution in Iran between the end of July 1988 and the beginning of 1989. Since January 1989, although few political executions have been reported there has been a dramatic increase in the number of executions for criminal offences. Over 900 such executions were reported in the official press between January and the end of May, most of them for drug trafficking.
