At least 1,639 people were executed, marking the highest number of recorded executions since 1989 and a dramatic 68% increase compared to 2024, when 975 executions were recorded. This is the continuation of the execution surge that began after the “Woman, Life, Freedom” nationwide protests in 2022, illustrating the authorities’ continued reliance on the death penalty as a tool to instil fear and deter new protests.
👉 READ/DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT HERE
Commenting on the unprecedented number of executions in 2025, IHRNGO Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “By creating fear through an average of 4–5 executions per day in 2025, authorities tried to prevent new protests and prolong its crumbling rule. But by the end of the year, people took to the streets again to demand their fundamental rights, demonstrating the failure of the policy of the gallows. This is an important signal to the current and any future leaders.”
A large proportion of those executed belonged to the most marginalised sectors of Iranian society. Nearly half of the executions were for drug-related offences, while hundreds were carried out under qisas (retribution-in-kind) laws for murder charges. As poverty being the underlying factor, ethnic minorities were disproportionately impacted. This is while the right to access counsel, due process and fair trial rights were systematically breached, often in violation of the Islamic Republic’s own laws.
The report also highlights several alarming trends in the use of the death penalty in 2025. At least 48 women were executed, the highest number recorded in at least two decades. The Islamic Republic also continued to target foreign nationals, executing at least 84 Afghan nationals, three Iraqi nationals and a man only referred to as a “foreign national.” In addition, 11 executions were carried out in public spaces, where children were amongst the spectators, a practice intended to spread fear and reinforce the state’s policy of intimidation.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan, Executive Director of ECPM, stated:“The death penalty in Iran is used as a political tool of oppression and repression, and ethnic minorities and marginalised groups are disproportionately represented among those executed. In 2025 alone, at least 795 people were executed for drug-related offences, many sentenced by Revolutionary Courts after grossly unfair trials and without due process. Despite this unprecedented surge, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has failed to show a strong reaction. Such large-scale executions for drug offences may amount to crimes against humanity, and the UNODC must ensure that its cooperation does not contribute to these crimes and must do everything within its mandate to help prevent them.”
In a statement issued in October 2025, the UN Fact-Finding Mission expressed its alarm by the extraordinary spike in executions. “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 expert Max du Plessis.
Despite the dramatic rise in executions, opposition to the death penalty inside Iran continues to grow. The “No Death Penalty Tuesdays” movement, which began in one Iranian prison, has now entered its third year with 56 Iranian prisons joining, gaining increasing support among Iranian civil society and the international community. In October 2025, drug death row prisoners staged a six-day strike in Ghezel Hesar Prison, forcing authorities to halt drug executions at the prison. This grassroots movement represents an important turning point in the Iranian abolitionist movement.
👉 READ/DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT HERE
Commenting on the unprecedented number of executions in 2025, IHRNGO Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “By creating fear through an average of 4–5 executions per day in 2025, authorities tried to prevent new protests and prolong its crumbling rule. But by the end of the year, people took to the streets again to demand their fundamental rights, demonstrating the failure of the policy of the gallows. This is an important signal to the current and any future leaders.”
A large proportion of those executed belonged to the most marginalised sectors of Iranian society. Nearly half of the executions were for drug-related offences, while hundreds were carried out under qisas (retribution-in-kind) laws for murder charges. As poverty being the underlying factor, ethnic minorities were disproportionately impacted. This is while the right to access counsel, due process and fair trial rights were systematically breached, often in violation of the Islamic Republic’s own laws.
The report also highlights several alarming trends in the use of the death penalty in 2025. At least 48 women were executed, the highest number recorded in at least two decades. The Islamic Republic also continued to target foreign nationals, executing at least 84 Afghan nationals, three Iraqi nationals and a man only referred to as a “foreign national.” In addition, 11 executions were carried out in public spaces, where children were amongst the spectators, a practice intended to spread fear and reinforce the state’s policy of intimidation.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan, Executive Director of ECPM, stated:“The death penalty in Iran is used as a political tool of oppression and repression, and ethnic minorities and marginalised groups are disproportionately represented among those executed. In 2025 alone, at least 795 people were executed for drug-related offences, many sentenced by Revolutionary Courts after grossly unfair trials and without due process. Despite this unprecedented surge, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has failed to show a strong reaction. Such large-scale executions for drug offences may amount to crimes against humanity, and the UNODC must ensure that its cooperation does not contribute to these crimes and must do everything within its mandate to help prevent them.”
In a statement issued in October 2025, the UN Fact-Finding Mission expressed its alarm by the extraordinary spike in executions. “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 expert Max du Plessis.
Despite the dramatic rise in executions, opposition to the death penalty inside Iran continues to grow. The “No Death Penalty Tuesdays” movement, which began in one Iranian prison, has now entered its third year with 56 Iranian prisons joining, gaining increasing support among Iranian civil society and the international community. In October 2025, drug death row prisoners staged a six-day strike in Ghezel Hesar Prison, forcing authorities to halt drug executions at the prison. This grassroots movement represents an important turning point in the Iranian abolitionist movement.
Iran executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, an average of more than 4 executions per day.
The future of the Islamic Republic remains uncertain. It has no legitimacy among the absolute majority of the Iranian population and is weaker than at any time in its history. If it survives the current crisis, there is a serious risk that executions will be used even more extensively as a tool of oppression and repression. The international community must therefore make the abolition or the restriction of its use to the most serious crimes, a central demand in any dialogue or negotiations with the Iranian authorities.
If political change does occur, the abolition of the death penalty must also be a central demand directed at any transitional government. In times of transition, public anger may generate strong support for executions of officials associated with the ousted government. However, Iran’s own experience after the 1979 Revolution demonstrates the dangers of such an approach.
Commenting on the importance of abolition in any future transition, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “History has shown that executions carried out in the name of justice during times of transition can quickly become tools of repression and are in violation of the right to truth. If Iran is to avoid repeating the tragic cycle that followed the 1979 revolution, the abolition of the death penalty must be a fundamental principle of any future democratic system.”
In this context, IHRNGO has initiated dialogue among Iranian opposition actors on minimum human rights principles for a future Iran. A number of political parties and groups participating in this process have already taken a principled stance against the death penalty. Establishing a broad consensus among the Iranian opposition on the abolition of the death penalty will be essential to breaking the cycle of violence that has characterised Iran’s modern political history.
With the publication of this report, IHRNGO and ECPM call on the international community, including the United Nations, governments with diplomatic relations with Iran, and international organisations, to place the abolition of the death penalty at the centre of their engagement with Iran and to support the growing abolitionist movement inside the country.
2025 Annual Report at a glance:
- At least 1,639 people were executed in 2025, a 68% increase compared to 2024 when 975 executions were recorded, and the highest number of recorded executions since 1989.
- Only 113 executions (under 7%) were announced by official sources compared to 9.7% in 2024 and 15% in 2023.
- Over 93% of the executions recorded, i.e. 1,524 executions, were not announced by the authorities.
- 795 people (48.5%) were executed for drug-related offences, a 58% increase compared to 2024 (503)
- Only 3 (0.18%) of the 795 drug-related executions were announced by official sources.
- 747 people (45.6% of all executions) were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, a 79% increase compared to 2024 (419).
- 37 people were executed for rape charges.
- At least 57 people were executed for the security charges of baghy (armed rebellion), efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) and moharebeh (enmity against God). They include 2 protesters, 18 political prisoners, 13 espionage defendants and a person convicted of financial corruption.
- The charges against three people are unknown.
- At least 48 women were executed, the highest number recorded in more than 20 years and a 55% increase compared to 2024 (31).
- 11 of the executions took place in public spaces.
- At least 84 Afghan nationals were executed in 2025, compared to 80 in 2024, 25 in 2023 and 16 in 2022.
- 852 (52%) executions in 2025 and more than 5,972 executions since 2010 have been based on death sentences issued by the Revolutionary Courts.
- At least 566 prisoners sentenced to qisas for murder charges were forgiven by the families of the murder victims per qisas laws.
Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, April 13, 2026
"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
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