A group of experts at the United Nations have urged Iranian authorities to stop indicting protesters with charges punishable by the death penalty.

Sixteen UN-appointed independent human rights experts urged the Iranian government in a statement on Friday to stop using the death penalty as a tool to squash protests.

“We reiterate our call to immediately release all protesters who have been arbitrarily deprived of their liberty for the sole reason of exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of opinion and expression, association and peaceful assembly and for their actions to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms through peaceful means,” they said in the statement.

Eight people were charged on October 29 in Tehran with crimes carrying the death penalty, namely “waging war against God” or “moharebeh” and “corruption on earth”. Two days later, the Tehran prosecutor announced that some 1,000 indictments had been issued in connection with recent “riots” in Tehran province alone.

Earlier, a group of 227 parliament members in Iran called on the Judiciary to issue death sentences for some people arrested during the ongoing antigovernment protests.

“With the continuous repression of protests, many more indictments on charges carrying the death penalty and death sentences might soon be issued, and we fear that women and girls …might be particularly targeted”, warned the UN experts.

Since September 16, authorities have detained thousands of protesters, including many women, children, youth and at least 51 journalists, 37 of whom remain in jail – many incommunicado.