Iran has terminated what seemed to be a lull in the regime’s pace of executing prisoners and dissidents. Observers and human rights groups had noted pauses revolving around the celebrations of the Persian New Year, Nowruz, and around the recent presidential campaign season.

Since the June 14 election, however, executions have skyrocketed. An activist Facebook project which maintains a timeline of the recent surge of executions notes that as many as 75 people have been killed. Anti-regime activists have been trying to build social media awareness using the hashtag #stopdeath.

Iran Human Rights documented 70 executions within three weeks:

Three prisoners were hanged in the prison of Ardebil (northwestern Iran) early Tuesday morning July 9. Six other prisoners have been executed in the prison of Ardebil in the last four days… Since the Presidential elections in mid-June more than 70 people have been executed in different Iranian cities.

Afghanistan has formally protested the execution of a dozen of its nationals:

A statement from the embassy said the Afghan citizens were hanged in Karj and Esfahan prisons, but the date of the executions was not reported. The embassy said seven of the victims were residents of western Herat province, three of Takhar province, one from Laghman province and one from western Nimroz province. The Afghan government has requested Iran halt or suspend the execution of Afghans, Khaama Press reported.

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