World
Iran slammed for record surge in executions of regime opponents: 'true face is on display'
A new United Nations report determined that executions surged in Iran during the month of August, leading experts to urge the country’s government to stop the unlawful spree.
“We are deeply concerned by this sharp rise in executions,” U.N. experts, including special rapporteurs on human rights, said in a press release from the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights.
“According to information received, of the 93 executions in August, only a fraction is officially reported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, highlighting the urgent need for transparency,” the experts added.
The U.N. reported that nearly half of all executions carried out last month occurred in response to alleged drug offenses, which the experts stressed went against “international standards.”
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“Countries that retain the death penalty must ensure that individuals are not subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment throughout the criminal justice process,” the experts said.
Portraits are exhibited behind a noose as a placard reads “Executions pro day” in front of the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) during a demonstration by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Berlin on Feb. 10, 2024. (Stefanie Loos/AFP via Getty Images)
“Wrongful executions are irreversible. The current implementation of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran leaves us extremely concerned that innocent individuals may have been executed,” the experts added. “We renew our appeal to Iranian authorities to halt executions of all individuals sentenced to death,”
Drug offenses have become a leading rationale for the Iranian government to carry out executions, which have hit an eight-year high, according to Amnesty International. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which counts Iran among its members, limits the death penalty to only the “most serious crimes,” which does not include drug offenses.
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The non-profit alleges in a report released earlier this year that Iran’s executions started to increase following the 2022 unrest that resulted from the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died under suspicious circumstances after a clash with Iran’s morality police due to allegedly not correctly wearing her hijab headscarf.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attends a ceremony at Imam Khomeini Husseinya to commemorate Arbaeen in Tehran, Iran on Aug. 25, 2024. (Iran’s Supreme Leader Press Office / HANDOUT/Anadolu via Getty Images)
In the report, Amnesty International characterizes Iran’s use of executions not as a tool of punishment but of intimidation, seeking to “instill fear among the population and tighten their grip on power.”
Iran this year has executed over 400 people, including over a dozen women – putting the country on track to match the roughly 850 executions in 2023, most of which punished political dissidents.
People take part in a demonstration organized by the “Women’s Life Freedom” movement to mark the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death on Sept. 16, 2023 in Paris. (Ameer Alhalbi/Getty Images)
“Never-mind the change at the top: Musical chairs between Iranian presidents has had zero bearing on the plight of the Iranian people to include rights violations and executions at home,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
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“Tehran’s true face is on display here,” Taleblu argued. “A rise in executions including for alleged drug-related offenses is a feature, not a bug, of the vision the Islamic Republic has for order at home.”
“Show trials, forced confessions, and violations of due process feature all too prominently in these death sentence cases,” he added.
Iranian members of the diaspora, activists, gathered in front of the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin during the “United Against Executions in Iran” protest on Jan. 27, 2024. (Echo Iran/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The U.N. highlighted the case of Reza Rasaei, an Iranina-Kurdish protester whom authorities punished based on a “confession reportedly obtained through torture.”
The government alleged that Rasaei was involved in the death of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member, and it pursued execution even after co-defendants retracted their testimonies about his involvement and a forensic medical examiner challenging Rasaei’s involvement.
The special rapporteurs serve as part of the Special Procedures group on the Human Rights Council, pursuing fact-finding missions and monitoring “mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world.”
World
Colin Jost Says ‘SNL’ Rejected Joke About Pete Hegseth Reading ‘Pulp Fiction’ Bible Verse Two Weeks Before It Happened in Real Life
Donald Trump’s defense secretary Pete Hegseth was widely mocked in April after he read a fake Bible verse from Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 classic “Pulp Fiction” during a Pentagon worship service. It turns out Colin Jost sort of saw it coming.
During a recent visit to “The Tonight Show,” Jost revealed that before Hegseth’s viral gaffe he told the “SNL” writers room: “Would it be funny if Hegseth just did that Bible verse that they have in ‘Pulp Fiction’ Remember, from Ezekiel, Samuel L. Jackson?”
The writers shot down Jost’s pitch, deeming it “too ridiculous” and claiming it “would take up all this time in the cold open. “And then he for real did it, like two weeks later and I was like, ‘Well, the good news is, I’m being surveilled, so that’s a relief.’” Jost has been playing Hegseth on “SNL” this season to much acclaim from critics and viewers.
The real Hegseth was at a Pentagon prayer service in April when he read the altered version of Ezekiel 25:17 that’s delivered by Samuel L. Jackson’s character in “Pulp Fiction” before he shoots a man. Hegseth said the prayer was recited by the “Sandy 1” Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission in Iran.
Calling on everyone to pray with him, Hegseth then read a prayer that was nearly word-for-word the line delivered by Jackson in Tarantino’s film: “The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of camaraderie and duty shepherds the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother, and you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee. Amen.”
Watch Jost’s full interview on “The Tonight Show” in the video below.
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A car reportedly drove into a crowd in the northern Italian city of Modena on Saturday, injuring several people.
The vehicle slammed into a store window, and its driver allegedly stabbed a passerby who attempted to intervene, Reuters reported, citing local Italian media.
Mayor Massimo Mezzetti told Italian TV no one was killed but eight people were injured, including four who were in critical condition, according to The Associated Press.
Blood is seen next to a destroyed car on a street of Modena, Italy, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Lapresse via AP)
He said a woman pinned against a shop window may require the amputation of both legs.
Financial Police patrol a scene after a car incident in a street of Modena, Italy, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Lapresse via AP)
The driver is a 31-year-old man born in Bergamo and raised in Modena with Maghreb origins, Mezzetti said.
The man was detained and was being questioned at police headquarters as authorities worked to determine whether he was under the influence of substances or acted deliberately, the mayor said.
Mezzetti said the vehicle entered one of the city’s main streets and “drove onto the sidewalk, sending several people flying,” before crashing into the shop window.
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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on •Updated
A tragedy unfolded in the night between Friday and Saturday on the island of Lampedusa, where a newborn migrant baby girl just a few weeks old died of hypothermia immediately after disembarking and while being rushed to the island’s outpatient clinic.
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At 4.30 a.m., after being rescued by the V1307 patrol boat of the Guardia di Finanza, 55 people from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria and Sierra Leone landed at Favarolo pier. Among them were seven women and six minors. The baby girl, whose condition immediately appeared critical, was taken together with her mother to the medical facility, where doctors could do nothing but declare her dead.
Investigation opened into the baby girl’s death
The Agrigento prosecutor’s office has opened an inquiry into the tragic case and ordered a post-mortem examination of the child’s body, a necessary step to confirm hypothermia as the actual cause of death.
The body is being transferred to the mortuary at the Cala Pisana cemetery, while in the coming hours the mother will be questioned by investigators to reconstruct the details of the crossing and establish exactly how and when the baby fell ill.
According to accounts from other migrants on board, the group had set off from Sfax-El Amra in Tunisia at around two o’clock yesterday morning, making the journey in a seven-metre metal boat that cost between 400 and 600 euros per person.
The baby girl’s mother, originally from Côte d’Ivoire, was later taken to the hotspot in the Imbriacola district together with her other daughter, aged around two. According to reports, the woman is currently in a severe state of shock over the loss of her child and is receiving continuous support from staff of the Italian Red Cross, which manages the island’s reception centre.
The centre’s director, Imad Dalil, confirmed to Italian media that psychosocial support measures had been activated. “The mother and the sister are here in the hotspot and are in good physical condition; for them and for the other people psychological support was activated immediately and in the coming hours the medical and psychosocial teams will continue their work,” he said.
NGOs’ reaction
The German NGO Sea-Watch voiced its outrage in a strongly worded post on X. “While the state attacks those who save lives at sea, investigating the captain of Sea-Watch, a one-month-old baby has arrived in LAMPEDUSA, dead in her mother’s arms, after a three-day crossing. Who will be held responsible for this injustice?” The outburst refers to the news, received by the NGO after arriving in Brindisi with 166 rescued people, that a criminal investigation has been opened against the captain of the Sea-Watch 5 on suspicion of aiding illegal entry.
The UN agency specialising in the protection and assistance of people forced to flee war, violence and persecution (UNHCR) also intervened to express deep condolences and grave concern over yet another victim claimed along the Mediterranean routes.
“A mother has lost her newborn daughter, who arrived dead this morning together with 54 other people in Lampedusa. Deep sorrow and concern for the many children and adults who should not be dying in the Mediterranean,” reads a post published on social media by UNHCR, which explains that the agency is on the ground providing assistance to the mother and all the other survivors of the landing.
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