U.S. State Department: 70% Increase in Executions of Women in Iran Signals a Global Alarm
December 24, 2025
Iran’s executions of women hit a 25-year peak in 2025, with at least 61 women put to death this year alone — a 70% increase from 2024.
This alarming trend underscores the Iranian regime’s intensified repression and grave human rights abuses, particularly against women.
Iran Ranked 168th Globally and 18th in the Middle East — Human Freedom Index 2025
Report Summary – December 2025
According to the Human Freedom Index 2025, published by the Cato Institute and the Fraser Institute, Iran ranks 168th worldwide and 18th in the Middle East and North Africa region, placing it among the least free countries globally.
The index measures human freedom across personal, civil, and economic dimensions, using dozens of indicators including freedom of expression, association, religion, rule of law, movement, and economic choice.
Key Findings on Iran
Severe restrictions on personal and civil freedoms:
Iran scores extremely low on freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, political participation, and freedom of association. Independent civil society activity and dissent are tightly controlled.
Weak rule of law and legal protections:
Arbitrary detention, lack of judicial independence, and limited due process contribute significantly to Iran’s low ranking.
Constrained economic freedom:
Heavy state involvement, sanctions exposure, weak property rights, and regulatory barriers limit individual economic choice and opportunity.
Persistent bottom-tier performance:
Iran remains consistently near the bottom of global rankings, indicating structural and long-term suppression of freedoms, rather than temporary decline.
The 2025 report emphasizes that countries with low human freedom scores—such as Iran—tend to face broader social, economic, and governance challenges, while higher freedom correlates with greater prosperity and stability.
Sources:
Cato Institute & Fraser Institute, Human Freedom Index 2025 (PDF)
Report on Human Rights Violations Against Religious and Ethnic Minorities in Iran
Period Covered: Late November 2025 – 1 December 2025
Between the second half of November and 1 December 2025, several credible human rights organizations reported a marked escalation in violations targeting religious and ethnic minorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran. These patterns point to a continued policy of discrimination, disproportionate use of capital punishment, and systematic repression against communities such as Bahá’ís, Kurds, Baluchis, Ahwazis (Arabs), Lors, Turks, and Afghan migrants.
Sharp Increase in Executions Disproportionately Targeting Ethnic Minorities
New data released at the end of November show that Iran carried out an exceptionally high number of executions in November 2025, with a disproportionate impact on ethnic minorities.
According to Hengaw (1 December 2025), at least 260 people were executed in Iran in November alone — the highest monthly figure in nearly twenty years.
The ethnic breakdown shows clear disproportionality: Lurs (43), Kurds (35), Turks (22), Arabs (13), Gilaks (12), Baluch (6), Turkmen (1), Tat (2), and 5 Afghan nationals.
This distribution, across both security-related and non-violent drug cases, demonstrates a systematic pattern in which minorities — particularly Kurds, Baluchis, and Arabs — face higher execution rates, often after trials lacking transparency or access to legal counsel.
A specific documented case includes the execution of Hamid Yousefzahi, a 37-year-old Baluch man executed in Shiraz’s Adelabad Prison on 26 November 2025, following a drug-related conviction widely criticized by rights groups for due-process violations.
Intensified Pressure on the Bahá’í Community
In late November, the situation of the Bahá’í religious minority once again drew international attention.
On 28 November 2025, the European Parliament adopted a landmark resolution condemning the Islamic Republic’s systematic persecution of Bahá’ís, calling for targeted sanctions against responsible Iranian officials.
The resolution highlights:
confiscation of property,
denial of higher education,
employment bans,
and recurring waves of arbitrary arrests.
Human rights monitors had earlier warned that Iran’s new national security law (passed in autumn 2025) grants security agencies even broader authority to criminalize peaceful Bahá’í religious activity, leading to fresh arrests, raids on homes, and intensified surveillance.
This marks one of the rare instances where the persecution of Bahá’ís has triggered formal action at the highest level of an EU institution — underscoring the gravity and persistence of these abuses.
Continued Repression of Ethnic Activists and Political Detainees
In addition to the execution surge, late-November coverage by international media underscored the vulnerability of ethnic activists, especially women.
A 28 November 2025 feature in The Guardian highlighted Iran’s use of death sentences as a tool against political dissent, naming Kurdish activist Pakhshan Azizi among the detainees facing execution after trials marred by allegations of forced confessions and inadequate legal representation.
This aligns with broader documentation by human rights groups that the government’s security crackdown — intensified after regional hostilities earlier in 2025 — has fallen heaviest on Kurdish, Baluchi, and Arab communities, who continue to face arbitrary arrest, collective punishment, and politically motivated prosecutions.
Conclusion
The combined evidence from late November through 1 December 2025 shows that Iran continues to employ capital punishment, security legislation, and discriminatory legal practices to suppress its religious and ethnic minorities. The sharp rise in executions, the renewed persecution of Bahá’ís, and the targeting of Kurdish and Baluchi activists all demonstrate a sustained and systematic policy of repression.
Recognizable Sources
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Monthly Execution Report – November 2025 (published 1 December 2025)
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), Group Execution in Adelabad Prison, Shiraz – Including a Baluchi Prisoner (27 November 2025)
European Parliament, Resolution on the Persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran (28 November 2025)
Religion News Service (RNS), coverage on Iran’s new security law targeting Bahá’ís (November 2025)
The Guardian, The Deadliest Wait: Women on Death Row – section on Kurdish activist Pakhshan Azizi (28 November 2025)
The UK calls on Iran to establish an immediate moratorium on executions: UK Statement at the UN Third Committee
Statement by Andrew Sigley, First Secretary Human Rights at the UN Third Committee meeting on Iran.
Gov.uk – November 20, 2025
The United Kingdom extends its appreciation to Canada for its continued leadership on this important resolution.
Iran’s use of the death penalty is not only an affront to human dignity – it is a political tool to incite fear and suppress dissent. Ethnic minorities continued to be disproportionately affected. This past year, we saw the 12th Woman Life Freedom protester executed – many more protesters and human rights defenders remain on death row. We continue to call on Iran to establish an immediate moratorium on executions.
The situation for women and girls remains deeply concerning. The authorities continue to bolster their surveillance capabilities to monitor and target women and girls, including human rights defenders, online and in their daily lives. The Iranian government is yet to effectively criminalize sexual and gender-based violence and to ensure equal access to justice for women and girls.
We remain deeply concerned by Iran’s repression of Freedom of Religion or Belief. During and since the 12-day war, state-linked media intensified scapegoating and incitement toward religious minorities, in particular Baha’is and Christians. We stand with these communities’ right to practice their faiths freely and without state interference.
Iran continues to target civil society beyond its borders. This activity seeks to silence journalists, activists and others responsible for documenting serious human rights violations. We are committed to working with international partners to combat this malign activity.
Iran’s new security law expands the authorities’ power to target Baha’isA law’s vague prescriptions against dissent can be turned against religious minorities the government has deemed enemies.
Religion News Service (RNS)Kristina Arriaga November 6, 2025
A month ago, Iran’s Parliament and Guardian Council approved sweeping legislation dramatically expanding the range of punishable actions and the use of the death penalty. Ostensibly framed as a defense measure in a volatile landscape following the 12-day war with Israel in June, the law in fact marks one of the gravest assaults on religious freedom in Iran’s modern history.
Its timing, four months after the two countries traded missile bombardments, reveals its true purpose: to consolidate power at home through fear, scapegoating and repression of the country’s most oppressed groups, especially Iran’s Baha’i community.
Baha’i, a rapidly growing global religion, was founded in the 1860s and is dedicated to toleration of other faiths, though it is severely repressed in several countries in the Middle East. Nowhere are Baha’is less tolerated than in Iran, where they make up a large minority, with about 300,000 adherents, according to 2020 figures.
The Oct. 1 bill, formally titled the “Intensification of Punishment for Espionage and Cooperation with the Zionist Regime and Hostile States Against National Security and Interests,” grants Iranian prosecutors sweeping authority to impose death sentences for vaguely defined offenses. Under its provisions, even routine civic activity or the sharing of digital content may be construed as “cooperation with hostile governments” if deemed by the regime to benefit Israel, the United States or unnamed “Zionist agents.”
This deliberate vagueness gives authorities near-limitless power to silence dissent, particularly among groups long branded as “outsiders” in the Islamic Republic’s ideological narrative.
Article 2 of the new law declares that “any direct or indirect assistance which results in the legitimation of the Zionist regime” is punishable by death or lengthy imprisonment. For Tehran’s clerical establishment, the community’s spiritual connection to the Baha’i World Centre in Haifa, Israel, provides a convenient pretext for oppression. This tie can be cynically manipulated to suggest that the institution’s mere existence legitimizes Israel — exposing Iranian Baha’is to severe reprisals for their faith alone.
Human-rights monitors have documented a sharp escalation of anti-Baha’i propaganda and arrests since the summer. In July, while Iranian state media celebrated what it called a “divine victory” over Israel, human rights activists in Iran reported that fully 72% of all documented violations of religious freedom in the previous three years involved Baha’is.
After the 12-day war began, at least 20 Baha’is were detained within a two-week period, an enormous spike relative to arrests in the general population. Their “crimes”? A report by the Ministry of Intelligence alleged that there was evidence of communications between the Baha’is and Israel during the war, a vague accusation lacking evidence but damaging enough to influence future court proceedings.
Equally disturbing are the procedural mechanisms embedded in the statute. Article 8 sets a five-day limit for investigation and trial in capital cases, eviscerating any notion of due process. Appeals to higher courts are barred in most circumstances. Article 9 authorizes prosecutions even for acts committed before the law’s enactment, a blatant violation of international norms prohibiting ex post facto punishment.
Together, these provisions ensure that once accused, a defendant has virtually no path to defense or review. For Baha’is, already denied access to lawyers, universities and government employment, such a system forecloses all possibility of justice.
The Iranian government has long relied on scapegoating to manage domestic instability. Following its costly confrontation with Israel — a war that decimated sections of its nuclear infrastructure and weakened regional allies Hezbollah and Hamas — the regime is under immense internal pressure. With inflation soaring and public discontent rising, officials have sought refuge in the politics of blame. Religious minorities, such as Sunni Kurds, Baluchis and Christian converts, are likely to be accused of “undermining national security.”
State television amplifies these claims, and online troll networks recycle conspiracy theories linking minority communities to foreign plots. The Baha’is, whose faith preaches nonviolence and obedience to lawful government, become an all-too-convenient target. By portraying domestic repression of the Baha’is as a patriotic necessity in an era of external threat, they hope to reassert ideological unity after a humiliating military episode.
Yet history suggests that repression born of weakness breeds only further decay. Each wave of persecution against minorities, from the post-revolutionary purges of the 1980s to the economic strangulation campaigns of the 2000s, has coincided with moments of crisis in the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy. The Oct. 1 law continues that pattern, signaling not strength but desperation.
Western governments, distracted by global conflicts and fatigued by Iran’s familiar defiance, may be tempted to dismiss this as another round of internal repression. That would be a grave mistake. The statute’s scope and severity mark a qualitative shift. It does not merely penalize dissent; it institutionalizes collective punishment against entire communities. The Baha’is may again serve as the “canary in the coal mine,” warning of a broader campaign that could soon engulf other minorities.
Diplomatic pressure remains possible — and necessary. The European Union, Canada and the United States have previously imposed targeted sanctions on Iranian officials implicated in religious persecution. Those mechanisms should be reactivated immediately, with particular scrutiny on judges and prosecutors empowered by the new law.
At the same time, United Nations special rapporteurs must be granted access to investigate violations arising from its enforcement. Documentation, public exposure and sustained advocacy remain the most effective tools to deter a regime that thrives in the shadows.
Religious persecution in Iran is neither new nor inevitable. It endures because the world’s outrage fades faster than the victims’ suffering. As the ink dries on this latest “security” decree, the global community must decide whether it will again look away or whether it will affirm, clearly and unequivocally, that no government may invoke national security to criminalize faith. The fate of Baha’is in Iran now tests the conscience of all who claim to defend religious freedom.
(Kristina Arriaga, a former vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, is a founding partner of Intrinsic Consulting. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)
The Independent UN Fact-Finding Mission investigating alleged rights abuses in Iran says there has been a “surge in repression and extraordinary spike in executions” there since Israeli hit the country with airstrikes in June.
Briefing at UN Headquarters in New York – the first time the mission has presented findings to the General Assembly – chairperson Sara Hossain said that conditions have deteriorated since the Israeli airstrikes, which reportedly killed over 1,000 people.
According to Iranian Government figures, 276 civilians, including 38 children and 102 women, were among the dead, and over 5,600 individuals were injured. Civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities and schools, suffered damage.
The Government also reported that the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran was hit without warning.
Around 80 people, including prisoners, family members (the attack took place during visting hours), staff and at least one child were killed. The prison housed around 1,500 inmates at the time, among them many human rights defenders and activists.
Ms. Hossain also expressed alarm at Iran’s response, which included missile strikes against Israel, which authorities said left 31 dead and over 3,300 injured.
Sara Hossain, Chair of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, briefs the United Nations Human Rights Council
‘Systemic attack against a civilian population’
The aftermath of the strikes, she said, led to a domestic crackdown by the Iranian Government which has further eroded respect for the right to life.
The Human Rights Council-appointed investigators have documented the arrest of thousands of people, including lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders, and those expressing their views on the conflict on social media.
This year has seen a rise in executions in Iran, to the highest recorded level since 2015.
Most death penalty cases investigated by the mission appear to contravene international human rights law. Legislation was passed expanding the use of the death penalty for “espionage,” and criminalising the posting of content on social media that the Government deems “false information.”
“If executions form part of a widespread and systemic attack against a civilian population, as a matter of policy, then those responsible – including the judges who impose capital punishment – may be held accountable for crimes against humanity,” said Fact-Finding Mission rights expert Max du Plessis.
The recent crackdown has also affected ethnic and religious minorities, with over 330 Kurds and large numbers of Arabs arrested, and hundreds of thousands of Afghans deported, investigators reported.
Members of the Baha’i religious minority have been accused of being “Zionist spies” and some were arrested in house raids, with their property confiscated.
Impunity for ‘honour killings’
The persistence of other grave forms of violence, including the cases of femicide (the intentional killing of women and girls because of their gender) have been reported in recent months.
The Mission received credible information that there have been 60 such cases between March and September of 2025. “Honour killings” and other forms of gender-based violence, the mission reported, take place with impunity.
Businesses providing services to women refusing to comply with the mandatory hijab laws have reportedly been closed, and surveillance has allegedly intensified. Reports also indicate that the “morality police” have recently returned to patrol the streets.
The Fact-Finding Mission has documented increasing cases of transnational repression, including interrogation, threats, and surveillance of families of Iranian journalists abroad. It has received credible information indicating that more than 45 media workers in seven countries have faced credible threats.
“The acts of denying justice are not neutral,” Ms. Hossain said. “Failure to address injustice prolongs the suffering of victims and undermines the State’s obligations under international human rights law to ensure accountability, truth, justice, and reparations.”
‘Rights to life and liberty under unprecedented threat’
In her report to the General Assembly, the independent human rights expert on Iran, Mai Sato, condemned the strikes by Israel and the US as unlawful uses of force in violation of the UN Charter, whilst expressing deep concern that the end of the hostilities had brought no relief to the people of Iran.
“External aggression has fuelled deeper internal repression,” she said. “The Iranian people’s rights to life and liberty are under unprecedented threat.” Ms. Saito described the rise in executions as a deliberate policy of fear and retribution, noting that many executions followed unfair trials or vague national security charges.
The Special Rapporteur – who is not a UN staffer and receives no salary for her work – also highlighted a growing pattern of transnational repression, with Iranian authorities targeting dissidents abroad through intimidation, surveillance, and threat, and appealed to other UN Member States to support at-risk Iranian civil society actors, and coordinate efforts to counter transnational repression.
In mid-October 2025, one of the largest organized prison protests in the Islamic Republic’s history erupted inside Ghezel Hesar Prison, located in Karaj, Iran. According to multiple human rights organizations, around 1,500 death-row prisoners began a coordinated hunger strike demanding an immediate halt to executions and improved treatment of inmates.
The strike, now in its fourth consecutive day, has drawn attention from international media and human rights groups as the Iranian regime intensifies its nationwide campaign of executions — a wave that has reached levels unseen in decades.
This uprising within Ghezel Hesar, a facility notorious for overcrowding and mass executions, coincides with a sharp rise in the number of prisoners transferred to solitary confinement — a precursor step before carrying out death sentences. Reports indicate that at least 38 prisoners were executed between October 13 and 15, while dozens more were moved to isolation cells awaiting imminent execution.
A Protest Against a Machinery of Death
The spark for the hunger strike reportedly began after 16 prisoners were abruptly transferred to solitary cells for scheduled executions earlier this month. Within hours, hundreds of inmates across several wards refused food and announced a collective protest, calling for “an end to bloodshed” and “justice for the condemned.”
The strike quickly spread through the prison’s death-row wings, where the vast majority of inmates are convicted on drug-related charges or security offenses following trials that fail to meet international fair trial standards.
Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) reported that prison authorities responded with intimidation, cutting phone access and restricting visits. Nevertheless, prisoners managed to communicate their demands through families and lawyers, prompting small gatherings of relatives outside the prison gates.
Videos circulating on Persian-language social media show families holding photos of their loved ones and chanting “Don’t execute!” as security forces encircled the area.
Escalating Executions: A Grim Record
The Ghezel Hesar hunger strike unfolds amid an unprecedented escalation of executions across Iran.
According to Amnesty International and the United Nations, the Iranian authorities executed at least 975 people in 2024, marking the highest annual figure since 2015. The pace has accelerated further in 2025, with over 1,000 executions already recorded by September, meaning an average of four executions per day nationwide.
The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) described 2025 as Iran’s “deadliest year in three decades,” noting that executions are increasingly used as a tool of intimidation and repression amid rising social discontent and economic collapse.
Human rights defenders believe that Tehran is deliberately using executions to instill fear following the resurgence of anti-government sentiments since early summer.
In recent months, dozens of Baluchi and Kurdish prisoners have been executed on vague security charges, while executions for drug-related offenses — often after summary trials — have dramatically increased since the regime reintroduced its “war on drugs” policy.
Global Reactions and Silence
Despite the staggering scale of executions, international response has remained muted. Western governments have largely focused on Iran’s regional activities and nuclear policy rather than its domestic human rights crisis.
The United Nations Human Rights Office reiterated earlier this month that Iran’s current pace of executions is “horrifying,” urging member states to press Tehran for an immediate moratorium.
However, concrete diplomatic action has been limited.
Reuters and Associated Press (AP) both reported that the French government condemned the regime on October 16 after two of its citizens were sentenced to a combined 63 years in prison on espionage charges. France described the rulings as “arbitrary and politically motivated.”
Human rights groups argue that the regime’s recent judicial crackdown, combined with its mass use of the death penalty, reflects a deliberate policy to suppress any sign of domestic dissent or perceived foreign influence.
A New Espionage Law and Expanded Death Penalties
Adding to global concern, Iran’s parliament recently enacted a new espionage law that drastically expands the range of crimes eligible for the death penalty.
According to IranWire, the legislation allows death sentences for offenses such as “spreading propaganda,” “collaborating with foreign media,” or even “using satellite internet services.”
Legal experts warn that this new law effectively legalizes executions for social media activity or peaceful dissent. Combined with the judiciary’s history of coerced confessions and closed-door trials, it represents an even greater threat to freedom of expression and life itself in Iran.
Families Under Pressure
Outside Ghezel Hesar, dozens of families have continued to gather daily despite threats of arrest.
They describe the situation inside the prison as “hellish,” with no medical care, no communication, and constant fear of being called for execution at any moment.
Many relatives told independent Persian-language outlets that the authorities have offered no information on the status of their loved ones — or even confirmation of whether they are alive.
Human rights groups such as HRANA confirm that communications from Ghezel Hesar have been restricted since the strike began. Lawyers for death-row prisoners have also been denied access.
One family member told HRANA:
“We can’t sleep at night. Every morning, we fear the phone will ring to tell us they hanged them.”
A Regime Running Out of Legitimacy
Observers note that the hunger strike and rising executions highlight a deep crisis of legitimacy for Iran’s ruling clerics.
The regime appears determined to display “strength” through violence and repression at a time of growing economic collapse and international isolation.
While protests outside Iran have focused on Tehran’s foreign interventions, inside the country, the confrontation is more existential — between a regime that governs through fear and a population demanding dignity and life.
The Ghezel Hesar strike, though limited in scope, symbolizes that even under maximum control and surveillance, resistance persists.
For many of the prisoners — especially those on death row for non-violent offenses — hunger strike is not just a protest but a final cry for recognition before execution.
Conclusion
The ongoing hunger strike in Ghezel Hesar Prison underscores the intensifying brutality of Iran’s justice system.
It is a stark reminder that the Islamic Republic continues to use executions as both punishment and political theater — targeting marginalized groups, silencing dissent, and signaling impunity to its security forces.
Unless international pressure mounts swiftly — including coordinated action by democratic governments, UN bodies, and human rights institutions — the number of deaths inside Iranian prisons will continue to climb.
For now, Ghezel Hesar stands as both a graveyard and a battleground — where hundreds of condemned prisoners have chosen starvation over submission, hoping their silence might echo beyond the prison walls.
HRANA (Human Rights Activists News Agency) – “Report on the Fourth Day of Prisoners’ Strike in Ghezel Hesar Prison” (Oct. 2025) — https://en-hrana.org/in-protest-against-executions-report-on-the-fourth-day-of-prisoners-strike-in-ghezel-hesar-prison
IranWire – “Prisoners Launch Hunger Strike After Mass Transfer to Solitary for Executions in Iran” (Oct. 2025) — https://iranwire.com/en/prisoners/145556
Female Political Prisoners Transferred from Qarchak to Evin Prison Amid Tight Security
Iran Wire – October 9, 2025
Iranian authorities have transferred female political prisoners from Qarchak Prison back to Evin Prison’s Ward 6 after weeks of protests over conditions at the detention center, former prisoners and activists said.
Elahe Mohammadi, a journalist and former political prisoner, and Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, a women’s rights activist, announced the transfer on social media platform X.
“Female political prisoners have finally been returned from Qarchak Prison to Evin, to Ward 6, not the women’s ward,” Mohammadi wrote.
She added, “Prisoners endure tremendous psychological pressure with every transfer and lose whatever minimal peace they had.”
The prisoners were moved to Qarchak’s quarantine ward following an Israeli attack on Evin Prison which killed dozens of prisoners.
The transfer was accompanied by threats and intimidation, according to activists.
Conditions at Qarchak Prison have deteriorated despite years of warnings from prisoners and civil activists.
The prison, which previously was a burial site and cattle farm, is Iran’s only all-women prison.
A source familiar with conditions at Qarchak told IranWire the prison suffers from severe shortages of sanitary facilities, clean drinking water, medication, and proper ventilation.
“Qarchak didn’t have suitable conditions from the beginning, but now with repeated water and electricity outages and unbearable heat, it has turned into hell,” the source said.
Prison officials have severely restricted non-political prisoners’ communication with others to prevent information about conditions from spreading, according to the source.
Six Baha’i Citizens in Alborz Province Ordered to Begin Prison Sentences
Iran Wire – October 9, 2025
Six Baha’i citizens in Alborz Province have been ordered to report to authorities within 10 days to begin serving prison sentences.
The citizens received notices instructing them to present themselves to Branch 7 of the Revolutionary Court’s Sentences Enforcement Office.
Those summoned are Mahindokht Sa’adatmand, Naghmeh Mirza Agha, Samar Massoudi, Mahshid Sefidi, Mona Zokaei, and Nasser Rajab.
Branch 2 of the Karaj Revolutionary Court held hearings for the defendants earlier this year.
Each was convicted of “propaganda against the state through video distribution” and sentenced to 10 months in prison, a two-year travel ban, and deprivation of social activities.
An appeals court reduced each sentence to five months in prison and a two-year ban on leaving the country and engaging in social activities.
It comes as a senior official at Iran’s Islamic Development Organization announced that 93,000 seminary students nationwide have been enrolled in anti-Baha’i training courses.
Saeed Rousta Azad said, “We have extensive content about sects such as Bahaism, Wahhabism, the Hojjatieh Society, and even emerging topics like Ahmad al-Hassan.”
He said the organization trains propagandists in various fields and added that “educational user accounts have been created for 93,000 seminary students across the country.”
Organized propaganda targeting Iran’s Baha’i community has intensified in recent months, with government-affiliated cultural and religious institutions holding daily meetings and conferences promoting anti-Baha’i narratives.
UN experts appalled by unprecedented execution spree in Iran with over 1000 killed in nine months
UN Human Rights Council – 29 September 2025
GENEVA – Over 1000 people have been killed in less than nine months of 2025, UN experts said today, warning that the figures represented a dramatic escalation that violates international human rights law.
“The sheer scale of executions in Iran is staggering and represents a grave violation of the right to life,” the experts said. “With an average of more than nine hangings per day in recent weeks, Iran appears to be conducting executions at an industrial scale that defies all accepted standards of human rights protection.”
At least 1,000 executions have been documented since 1 January 2025 to date. Due to Iran’s lack of transparency, the actual number is likely to be significantly higher.
Most of the known executions were for drug-related offences and murder, followed by security-related charges and rape. Among those executed were at least 58 Afghans, including 57 men and one woman.
“The extensive use of the death penalty for drug-related offences is particularly alarming,” the experts said. “At least 499 individuals were executed for drug-related crimes in less than nine months of 2025– a dramatic increase from the 24-30 executions per year recorded between 2018 and 2020.”
“While the 2017 amendment to the Law on Combating Illicit Drugs was initially welcomed for narrowing the use of the mandatory death penalty, this progress has been reversed with executions surging after 2021,” they said.
International law restricts capital punishment to only the ‘most serious crimes’— interpreted as intentional murder. “Drug offences do not meet this threshold,” the experts said.
Drug executions severely affect marginalised communities facing economic hardship from ethnic minority backgrounds. Almost all face confiscation of their limited assets, including family homes and farmland. Only a fraction of executions is announced through official sources, with Revolutionary Court proceedings taking place behind closed doors.
Iran also executed 10 individuals on espionage charges, with eight executions carried out after 13 June following Israel’s military aggression.
A new espionage bill introduced after the military escalation significantly expands the scope of conduct considered espionage to include activities linked to dissemination of information and media work, such as contact with foreign and diaspora media outlets.
Iran must immediately establish an official moratorium on all executions, provide data on death sentences and executions, treat people humanely at all times and ensure compliance with international fair trial standards, while working towards complete abolition of the death penalty, the experts said.
They noted that with further amendment to the 2017 Law on Combating Illicit Drugs currently being reviewed by the Majles, Iranian authorities have a critical opportunity to restore progress, reverse this alarming trend and end capital punishment for drug-related crimes.
“The international community cannot remain silent in the face of such systematic violations of the right to life,” the experts said. “States must take concrete diplomatic action to pressure Iran to halt this execution spree.”
