Iran executed at least 834 people last year, the highest number since 2015, as capital punishment in the Islamic republic surged to a "staggering" level, human rights groups said yesterday. The number of executions, which Iran has always carried out by hanging in recent years, was up some 43 percent on 2022. It marked only the second time in two decades that more than 800 executions were recorded in a year, after 972 executions in 2015, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said in the joint report. The groups accused Iran of using the death penalty to spread fear during its crackdown on protests sparked by the September 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini. "Instilling societal fear is the regime's only way to hold on to power, and the death penalty is its most important instrument," said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam in the report, which described the figure of 834 as a "staggering total".  Iran has executed nine men in cases linked to attacks on security forces during the 2022 protests –- two in 2022, six in 2023 and one so far in 2024 -– according to the rights groups.