Skip to main content

Iran | At Least 100 Protesters Facing Execution, Death Penalty Charges or Sentences; At Least 476 Protesters Killed

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 27, 2022: At least 476 people including 64 children and 34 women, have been killed by security forces in the current nationwide protests. The death toll increase relates to recently verified cases from the first two months of the protests.

Furthermore, at least 100 protesters are currently at risk of execution, death penalty charges or sentences. This is a minimum as most families are under pressure to stay quiet, the real number is believed to be much higher. 

Welcoming parliamentarians volunteering as political sponsors, Iran Human Rights reiterates the need to increase the political cost of executions for the Islamic Republic. 

Director Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam said: “Despite more than 100 days passing since the start of the nationwide protests, hundreds being killed, thousands arrested and protesters being executed, the people’s uprising for real change and achieving fundamental rights continues. The challenge facing people is the price they have to pay to achieve this goal. More widespread participation inside and outside the country and the international community supporting this uprising, can help lower the cost.


According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least 476 people including 64 children have been killed by security forces in the nationwide protests so far. Of the 64 children, nine were girls. They were all under 18 years of age, but have not all been verified through document evidence. Iran Human Rights is working to obtain confirmation of their ages.

The aforementioned numbers only relate to protests on the streets. Protesters Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard who were executed and those that have died under suspicious circumstances (include alleged suicides) shortly after release are not included in these statistics.

Death Toll by Province


Protesters have been killed in 25 provinces, with the most reported in Sistan and Baluchistan, Western Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Tehran and Mazandaran respectively.

Deaths have been recorded in 25 provinces: Sistan and Baluchistan: 130 people; West Azerbaijan: 53 people;  Kurdistan: 53 people;  Tehran: 52 people; Mazandaran: 38 people;  Gilan: 26 people; Kermanshah: 25 people; Alborz: 23 people; Isfahan: 14 people; Fars: 11 people; Khuzestan: 11 people; Khorasan-Razavi: 7 people;  East Azerbaijan: 4 people; Zanjan: 3 people; Lorestan: 3 people; Markazi: 3 people; Qazvin: 3 people; Hamevdan: 3 people; Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad: 2 people; Ardabil: 2 people; Ilam: 2 people;  Bushehr: 2 people;  Hormozgan: 2 person; Semnan: 1 person; Golestan: 1 person.

Crucial to note: Iran Human Rights started researching and recording protester deaths from the outset of protests. In the course of research and as new information is obtained, the data will be adjusted accordingly. As such, it is reflected in the change in province numbers.

The most number of deaths were recorded on 21, 22 and 30 September (Baluchistan’s “Bloody Friday”). November 4 was the bloodiest day in November with 21 recorded deaths.

Numbers are a “minimum”


The death toll is an absolute minimum. Reports of protester killings in the last few days are still being investigated. Iran Human Rights has received a high volume of reports of deaths which it continues to investigate with security considerations and internet disruptions. The actual number of people killed therefore, is certainly higher.

The Islamic Republic is intentionally creating confusion in protester cases by sharing contradicting statements, particularly in death penalty cases. This is further perpetuated by the fact that security defendants do not have access to their own lawyers per the Note to Article 48 of the CCP and their family contact is restricted. Many lawyers have reported being prevented from accessing their clients and their cases at all stages of the legal proceedings.

PROTESTERS AT RISK OF EXECUTION, DEATH PENALTY CHARGES OR SENTENCES


This list includes both officially reported cases and those reported by family members and citizen journalists. Iran Human Rights has been unable to confirm the details of all individual cases and therefore requests that anyone with information about protesters at risk of death penalty charges or sentences contact us on mail@iranhr.net or 0061478494849 on Signal, WhatsApp or Telegram.

It is important to note that all defendants in the following cases have been deprived of the right to access their own lawyer, due process and fair trials. In cases where they have managed to make contact or details of their cases reported by cellmates and human rights defenders, all have been subjected to physical and mental torture to force false self-incriminating confessions. In many cases, their forced confessions were aired prior to the commencement of any legal proceedings, violating their right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. There is ambiguity in many cases due to the Islamic Republic’s lack of transparency. 


Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, December 27, 2022





🚩 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.




Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!



"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Saudi Arabia executed 356 people in 2025, highest number on record

Analysts attribute increase to kingdom’s ‘war on drugs’ as authorities kill 356 people by death penalty Saudi authorities executed 356 people in 2025, setting a new record for the number of inmates put to death in the kingdom in a single year. Analysts have largely attributed the increase in executions to Riyadh’s “war on drugs”, with some of those arrested in previous years only now being executed after legal proceedings and convictions. Official data released by the Saudi government said 243 people were executed in drug-related cases in 2025 alone, according to a tally kept by Agence France-Presse.

The US reporter who has witnessed 14 executions: ‘People need to know what it looks like’

South Carolina-based journalist Jeffrey Collins observed back-to-back executions in 2025 after the state revived the death penalty following a 13-year pause Jeffrey Collins has watched 14 men draw their final breaths. Over 25 years at the Associated Press, the South Carolina-based journalist has repeatedly served as an observer inside the state’s execution chamber, watching from feet away as prison officials kill men who were sentenced to capital punishment. South Carolina has recently kept him unusually busy, with seven back-to-back executions in 14 months.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester.  Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Georgia parole board suspends scheduled execution of Cobb County death row prisoner

The execution of a Georgia man scheduled for Wednesday has been suspended as the State Board of Pardons and Paroles considers a clemency application.  Stacey Humphreys, 52, would have been the state's first execution in 2025. As of December 16, 2025, Georgia has carried out zero executions in 2025. The state last executed an inmate in January 2020, followed by a pause due to COVID-19. Executions resumed in 2024, but none have occurred this year until now. Humphreys had been sentenced to death for the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown, who were fatally shot at the real estate office where they worked.

USA | Justice Department Encourages New Capital Charges Against Commuted Federal Death Row Prisoners

On Dec. 23, 2024, former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. commuted the sentences of nearly all federal death row prisoners, sparing 37 men from execution. Just 28 days later, on Jan. 20, 2025, newly inaugurated President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order encouraging state and local prosecutors to pursue new charges against those same prisoners, reopening the possibility of capital punishment in state courts.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Iran | Executions in Shiraz, Borazjan, Ahvaz, Isfahan, Ardabil, Rasht, Ghaemshahr, Neishabur

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 23, 2025: Mahin Rashidi, Abbas Alami, Naser Faraji, Tohid Barzegar and Jamshid Amirfazli, five co-defendants on death row for drug-related offences, were secretly executed in a group hanging in Shiraz Central Prison.  According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men and a woman were hanged in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison on 17 December 2025. Their identities have been established as Mahin Rashidi, a 39-year-old woman, Abbas Alami, 43, Naser Faraji, 38, Tohid Barzegar, 51, and Jamshid Amirfazli, 45, all Kashan natives.

California | Convicted killer Scott Peterson keeps swinging in court — but expert says he’s not going anywhere but his cell

More than two decades after Laci Peterson vanished from her Modesto, California, home, the murder case that captivated the nation continues to draw legal challenges, public debate and renewed attention. As the year comes to a close, Scott Peterson, convicted in 2004 of murdering his pregnant wife and their unborn son Conner, remains behind bars, serving life without the possibility of parole. His wife disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002, and a few months later, the remains of Laci and Conner were found in the San Francisco Bay.

M Ravi, the man who defied Singapore regime's harassment, dies

M Ravi never gave up despite the odds stacked against him by the Singapore regime, which has always used its grip on the legal process to silence critics. M Ravi, one of Singapore's best-known personalities who was at the forefront of legal cases challenging the PAP regime over human rights violations, has died. He was 56. The news has come as a shock to friends and activists. Singapore's The Straits Times reported that police were investigating the "unnatural death".

Singapore | Prolific lawyer M Ravi, known for drug death-penalty cases, found dead

Ravi Madasamy, a high-profile lawyer who represented death-row inmates and campaigned against capital punishment, was found dead in the early hours, prompting a police investigation into an unnatural death KUALA LUMPUR — Prolific Singapore lawyer Ravi Madasamy who tried to save Malaysian drug traffickers from the gallows found dead in the early hours with police investigating a case of unnatural death. Lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, who had previously represented 56-year-old Ravi in court and described him as a friend, said he was deeply saddened by the news.