Iran death penalties hit 743 in 2014

BBC:

There has been an "unprecedented spike" in the number of executions in Iran, Amnesty International has warned.

The rights group said it believed 694 people were killed between 1 January and 15 July, almost three times the figure acknowledged by the authorities.

It said credible reports suggested Iran executed at least 743 people in 2014.

Amnesty said the surge was disturbing as the death sentences were invariably imposed by courts "completely lacking in independence and impartiality".

"They are imposed either for vaguely worded or overly broad offences, or acts that should not be criminalised at all, let alone attract the death penalty," it added.

"Trials in Iran are deeply flawed, detainees are often denied access to lawyers, and there are inadequate procedures for appeal, pardon and commutation."
...

"Iran's staggering execution toll for the first half of this year paints a sinister picture of the machinery of the state carrying out premeditated, judicially-sanctioned killings on a mass scale," said Said Boumedouha, deputy director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme.
...

Amnesty said the reasons behind the surge in executions were unclear, but that the majority of those killed in 2015 were convicted of drug charges.

"The [Iranian] authorities have confirmed that around 80% of executions are for these [drugs] offences," Amnesty researcher Raha Bahreini told the BBC.
...

I guess that takes care of their recidivism problem.  

They must  be running out of homosexuals to execute.  This is just more evidence of a despotic regime that Obama thinks he can trust.  Imagine how many more they can kill when they get nukes.