2025 Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran
The 18th Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, published by Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), reveals an unprecedented escalation in the use of the death penalty by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2025. 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.
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 disproportionally 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 Ghezelhesar Prison, forcing authorities to halt drug executions at the prison. This grassroots movement represents an important turning point in the Iranian abolitionist movement.
This report is published at a time when the Iranian people were subjected to the largest mass killing of protesters in the Islamic Republic’s history in January. At the time of writing, they are living under the fear and anxiety of daily bombardments amid an ongoing war. Hundreds of detained protesters remain at risk of death sentences and execution. Periods of crisis and conflict have historically provided the authorities with opportunities to intensify repression and carry out executions away from international scrutiny.
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 (see page xx). 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.
