Iranian-Canadian rights activist Maryam Nayeb Yazdi calls attention to the use of capital punishment and public executions in Iran as a means of spreading fear among the people. Each year, Iran commits the most executions per capita in the world. As support for the regime weakens, Yazdi predicts that executions will only increase as the regime attempts to further intimidate its citizens into submission. Many of these executions are sentences for drug-related offenses, which Yazdi explains is simply an attempt by the regime to curb dissent and make its citizens feel powerless to bring about change.