ANKARA

At least 390 people were executed by the Iranian authorities last year, according to a report released Thursday by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, an NGO based in the U.S.

The exact number remains difficult to determine, the report stated, “as the Iranian government does not publicly announce every execution”.

According to the report, which is based on information obtained from both official and non-official sources, most of those executed were convicted of murder or drug trafficking, while six committed the crimes when they were still minors.

Iran’s capital punishment laws have been harshly criticized by both human rights groups and some Iranian politicians.

The fact that convicts are sometimes executed for crimes they committed when they were minors -- especially drug dealing -- has drawn particularly scathing criticisms.

In response to these criticisms, the Iranian government announced plans last year to reduce penalties for drug-related offenses.

Iranian Chief Justice Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani recently reviewed the cases of convicts awaiting execution for drug-related crimes, stating afterward that a number of death sentences would be reduced to extended jail terms.

In Iran, terrorism, murder, rape, armed robbery, child molestation and drug trafficking are all punishable by death.