September 24, 2025

Iran is in the spotlight for a grim reason—more than 1,000 people have been executed there in 2025 alone! The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group revealed this shocking figure on September 23, 2025. It is the highest number in about 30 years, topping the previous year’s 975 executions. Can you imagine? Just last week, Iran hanged 64 people, averaging over nine executions daily! IHR has been tracking executions in Iran since 2008, and their data show a deadly spike now. The UN’s human rights office in Geneva called this number “staggering.” Looking back, Iran did have many executions after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and early 1990s. But now, activists say the government is killing more people than ever since then. Why? They say it’s because the leaders, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, feel threatened by recent protests in 2022-2023 and a 12-day war with Israel in June. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of IHR, warns, "In recent months the Islamic republic has begun a mass killing campaign in Iran's prisons, the dimensions of which -- in the absence of serious international reactions -- are expanding every day." He calls these executions “crimes against humanity” and urges the world to put this issue at the top of its agenda. Raphael Chenuil Hazan, head of the group Together Against the Death Penalty in Paris, agrees. He says, “The international community must consider that Iran as a state commits a crime against humanity in the mass and systematic use of the death penalty.” Among those executed this year, at least ten were charged with spying for Israel, mostly after the conflict started. The latest was Babak Shahbazi, hanged on September 17 after what Amnesty International called a “grossly unfair trial in which the authorities never investigated his torture.” IHR says their numbers are just the minimum. The real total is likely higher because of secretive prison systems and limits on news reporting. Right now, all executions in Iran are done by hanging, mostly inside prisons but sometimes in public. Iran’s government says it uses the death penalty only for the most serious crimes. Still, IHR reports that half of executions are for drug-related offences, which the UN considers a wrong use of capital punishment. Shockingly, 28 women have been executed so far in 2025. Many were reportedly convicted after killing husbands who forced them into marriage or were abusive. According to Amnesty and other rights groups, Iran is now the world’s second biggest executioner after China. Amnesty called the situation “horrific,” warning scores of people face death after “unfair trials and convictions on politically motivated charges.” The world is watching. Will global leaders act to stop this mass killing in Iran’s prisons? The clock is ticking.

Read More at Thehindu →

Tags: Iran executions, Death penalty, Human rights, Iran human rights ngo, Un criticism,