Human Rights Violations in Iran, 20 August–20 September: At Least 196 Prisoners Executed
4-October-2025
Category: ethnic minorities، executions، Freedom of Expression، Hunger Strike of Political Prisoners، Labor and guilds، Prisoners، protesters، Students
29 September 2025
News group: Freedom of Expression – Protests – Hunger Strikes by Political Prisoners – Executions – Ethnic Minorities – Students –
Breathing in Confinement – According to the Statistics Centre of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, at least 196 prisoners were executed over the past month (20 August to 20 September 2025).
In its latest monthly update, the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran reports a sharp escalation in human-rights violations. Over the past month, at least 196 people—including political, ideological, and security-related prisoners—lost their lives through executions. This unprecedented figure represents a striking surge compared with previous months and is unparalleled since the 2000s, indicating an intensification of state intimidation.
In total, at least 862 prisoners were executed in the first six months of the Iranian year 1404 (20 March–20 September 2025). Since 20 March, the Islamic Republic has executed at least 30 women, seven of them in the past month.
This alarming and unrestrained rise in executions is unfolding amid deepening domestic crises and regional pressures. In an apparent effort to compensate for structural weakness and collapsing social legitimacy, the authorities have set an unrelenting “cycle of death” in motion. These mass executions do not represent justice, but rather a form of organised state violence which, alongside other punishments such as flogging, torture, arbitrary arrests, and deaths in custody, signals systematic violations of fundamental human rights—from the right to life to the prohibition of torture.
This “execution tsunami” is not confined to eliminating political opponents; it spans multiple strata of society. The sharp increase in executions of ordinary criminal prisoners—often themselves products of state policies—constitutes another face of state killings. Nevertheless, resistance to this “politics of death” has grown. Campaigns such as “Tuesdays Against Executions”, together with protests by families of prisoners, workers, pensioners, and other social groups, testify to society’s ongoing stand against state violence and its demand for justice, freedom, and human dignity.
The Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran expresses grave concern at the escalating pattern of abuses and calls on the international community and human-rights bodies to take effective and urgent measures to protect lives, counter the current wave of repression, and prevent the further spread of executions.
Summary of violations in the past month:
-At least 196 executions, including 2 political/ideological prisoners and 7 women;
–Death sentences issued for 9 prisoners (including 1 political prisoner) and 4 other death sentences confirmed by the Supreme Court
-At least 85 arrests
– 7 prisoner died due to lack of medical care in prisons
– Flogging sentences issued for 4 defendants
– Prison sentences against 27 political/ideological defendants totalling 57 years, 4 months, and 4 days’ imprisonment, with at least 4 political convicts detained for sentence enforcement
– Fines totalling 380 million tomans
– 34 worker deaths and at least 45 injuries from workplace incidents, plus at least 170 worker dismissals
– 13 cases of violence and killings against women
– Over 420 protests, marches, and civil actions nationwide
– Continued weekly “Tuesdays Against Executions” hunger strike in 52 prisons (now in its 87th week)
– Ongoing protest gatherings by families of political prisoners, as well as continued demonstrations by pensioners and other social groups.
Comprehensive Analysis of Executions
Overall execution figures
April: 86
May: 172
June: 144
July: 88
August: 176
September: 196
Based on data compiled by the Statistics Centre of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, at least 196 prisoners were executed nationwide in the past month. The composition of these executions underscores the breadth and multi-layered nature of the crisis: 1 political prisoner, 1 prisoner of conscience, 1 person accused of espionage, 104 for drug-related offences, 88 for murder, and 1 for rape.
Special cases
Mehran Bahramian, a political prisoner and detainee of the 2022 nationwide protests, executed in Isfahan on charges of moharebeh and efsad-e-fel-arz.
A prisoner of conscience was also executed on a charge of ISIS affiliation.
These examples show that the judiciary continues to target a wide spectrum of detainees—from political protesters to religious and ethnic minorities. In addition, after the initial August report was published, four further executions were later identified and disclosed by the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, further highlighting the gulf between official figures and reality.
Looking at the first six months of the Iranian year 1404 (20 March–20 September 2025) presents an even more troubling picture: at least 863 executions, compared with 394 in the same period last year—an 119% increase.
The number of public executions during this period equals the total for the last year, indicating the authorities’ heightened use of violent spectacle to spread fear.
Another striking feature is the gap between official and actual numbers: out of 196 executions recorded last month, only 8 were announced by state media or official bodies; the remaining 188 were exposed by independent human-rights groups, journalists, and families. This stark disparity points to a policy of systematic concealment aimed at muting public scrutiny and reducing international pressure.
Another salient aspect is the execution of 7 women last month, reflecting a continuing trend despite repeated international concern over women’s vulnerability within Iran’s justice system.
At least 47 members of ethnic minorities were executed (including 19 Baluch and 28 Kurds). Beyond structural discrimination and targeted repression, many of these cases feature serious fair-trial violations: reports of torture to extract forced confessions, convictions on vague national-security charges, and denial of access to independent legal counsel.
Taken together, these data suggest that, amid widening political and social crises, the authorities are turning to executions not as a judicial process but as a political instrument for intimidation and social control. The rapid acceleration of death sentences—alongside concurrent repression of minorities and women—shows that the government is wielding the death penalty as a means of survival.
Charge-Based Analysis
Statistical comparison of executions over the past six months, by charge.
Of the 196 executions recorded last month, only 8 were officially announced by state media or government bodies, while the remaining 188 were exposed by the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, independent human-rights organisations, journalists, and the victims’ families.
Analysis of the composition of those executed also reveals concerning patterns. The execution of 7 women and 47 members of ethnic minorities in the last month points to the gendered and discriminatory nature of the Islamic Republic’s judicial system. The data show that, in Iran, the death penalty functions beyond a judicial mechanism and has become a political-security tool to suppress vulnerable groups, women, and minorities—its principal purpose being to entrench fear and control a society the authorities worry is slipping beyond their grasp.
The quantitative and qualitative trajectory of executions in the past six months sketches a grim picture of wide-ranging human-rights violations. What stands out in these data are: organised concealment of facts; the performative use of public executions to instil fear; the continued issuance of death sentences against women; and a focus on repressing ethnic minorities.
Taken together, these patterns show clearly that, amid the current political and social crises, the Islamic Republic is employing executions not as a judicial process but as a central pillar of security policy and an instrument of social control. Each execution, therefore, goes beyond an individual punishment and forms part of a broader state strategy to secure government survival and reproduce fear within society.
According to data from the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, between 20 August and 20 September 2024, 70 executions were recorded. In the same period this year, the figure rose to at least 196. This represents an increase of about 180%. This sharp rise should be viewed as a serious indication of the authorities’ intensified resort to capital punishment—contrary to Iran’s international obligations, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the right to life, and the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.
Analysis by Characteristics of Those Executed.
Gender and age
Women
April: 5
May: 7
June: 4
July: 1
August: 5
September: 7
According to the Statistics Centre of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, at least seven women were executed in various prisons last month. Together with the six-month figures, this accounts for a significant share of the 30 women executed since 20 March. These data attest to a concerning trend: the justice system’s continued reliance on the death penalty against women. The majority were taken to the gallows on murder charges, yet many were denied an effective defence, access to independent counsel, and a fair trial. Case files and available testimonies indicate that many of these charges arose in complex social and family contexts, and that the death penalty has often been used not as a just punishment but as a display of judicial power.
The executed women in the past month:
Maliheh Haqqi (34)
Mitra Yasini Banoo-Moghadam (60)
Gohar Taheri Aghdam (52)
Zahra Fatouhi (52)
And another woman of unknown identity who was eexecuted in Sabzevar Prison.
The charge for all of these women was murder. In addition, Hadigheh Abadi was executed in Tabriz on drug-related charges. The geographic spread of these executions — Tabriz, Shiraz, Abhar (Zanjan), Qazvin, and Sabzevar — shows that executions of women are neither exceptional nor confined to a single region, but part of a wider, systematic pattern nationwide. Given women’s particular status in Iranian society and the weakness of legal and social protections, women facing execution are among the most vulnerable victims of human-rights violations in the Islamic Republic — a group whose fate now more than ever requires urgent international attention and action.
Special cases
Political prisoners
- April 2025: Malek Malek Ali Fadaei Nasab, Farhad Shakeri, Abdolhakim Azim Gorgij, Abdolrahman Gorgij, Taj Mohammad Khormal, Ali Dehani.
- May 2025: Hamid Hosseinnezhad Heidaranlou (secretly in Urmia Prison), Rostam Zein al-Dini (Haji Gol) in Zahedan Prison.
- June 2025: Mojahid Korkor (Abbas Korkouri), one of the detainees of the 2022 uprising.
- July 2025: Mohammad Amin Mahdavi Shayesteh (23), whose case was still under retrial; Edris Ali, 33-year-old Kurdish kolbar (cross-border porter), executed on espionage charges; Azad Shojaei (45), also a kolbar, executed on espionage charges; Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, a Kurdish Iraqi citizen from Sulaymaniyah.
- August 2025: Behrouz Ehsani Eslamloo and Mehdi Hassani, executed for rebellion, enmity against God, and membership in the PMOI/MEK; Mehdi Asgharzadeh, a Sunni prisoner of conscience, executed on charges of ISIS membership; Roozbeh Vadi, a nuclear scientist and researcher at the Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, executed on espionage charges.
- September 2025: Mehran Bahramian, detained during the 2022 nationwide protests. A prisoner of conscience with an unknown identity was also executed in this month.
Government secrecy
Of the 196 executions recorded last month, only 8 cases (4%) were announced by the Islamic Republic’s state media and official sources. This means that about 99.5% of executions were carried out in total silence and with deliberate concealment, and were revealed only thanks to the sustained efforts of human-rights organisations and the victims’ families. This level of secrecy and censorship occurs in a context where many families, out of fear of security pressures or for cultural and social reasons, refrain from publicising the execution of their loved ones, and where the public sphere is under tight security control. Such extensive concealment shows that the authorities are not only increasing executions, but are deliberately trying to keep the public unaware of the true scale of repression.
The chart below shows the percentage of executions officially announced by the authorities versus secret executions.
The Islamic Republic of Iran and the systematic violation of international standards on the use of the death penalty
Despite much of the world moving towards restricting or abolishing the death penalty, Iran remains the second highest executioner in the world, systematically ignoring fundamental human rights principles.
- ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights): protects the right to life, prohibits torture, and guarantees fair trial.
- Convention on the Rights of the Child: explicitly prohibits executions for offences committed under the age of 18 (regularly violated by Iran).
- CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women): Iran is not a signatory, but its discriminatory laws and practices exacerbate structural violence against women.
- UN Safeguards for the Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty: require that capital punishment be restricted to the “most serious crimes” and applied only after full and fair trials — conditions rarely met in Iran.
Death sentences and flogging
The cycle of judicial repression continues.
In the past month, the issuing and confirmation of death sentences took on alarming dimensions. According to reports, at least 9 people were sentenced to death this month, and the death sentences of 4 other prisoners were upheld by the Supreme Court. The range of charges is striking: 1 political prisoner, 1 person accused of espionage, 8 on murder charges, 1 on a charge of unlawful abortion, and 2 on rape charges. In addition, a woman named Kolsum Akbari was sentenced to ten death sentences on the accusation of murdering 11 husbands over the past two decades—a ruling that plainly illustrates the symbolic and performative nature of the judiciary’s resort to capital punishment.
Also this month, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of four defendants in murder cases, one of which was designated for public execution. Among the confirmed cases is the death sentence of a woman accused of murder. Of the newly sentenced, Pezhman Toubereh-Rizi, a political prisoner, was sentenced to death by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Amoonzhad, on charges of baghi, corruption on earth (efsad-e fel-arz), and membership in the Mojahedin-e-Khalgh (MEK). Meanwhile, Nasser Beyk-zadeh received a death sentence from Branch 1 of the Urmia Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Shahini, on espionage for Israel. These developments came only a month after warnings about the risk of carrying out the death sentence of Babak Shahbazi, a political prisoner accused of espionage; tragically, that sentence was carried out last month. Taken together, this timing further underscores the authorities’ accelerating use of executions as a tool for political elimination and social repression.
Flogging sentences: a legalised instrument of humiliation and torture
Alongside the wave of death sentences, courts issued more than 300 lashes in total for four defendants last month. A defendant in Yazd convicted of bribery and abuse of office received 36 lashes, and a defendant convicted of aggravated theft received 47 lashes. In Gilan, the former Director-General of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Department and his co-defendant each received 100 lashes for sexual offences. Flogging continues to be misused in the laws of the Islamic Republic as a punitive tool that, in practice, amounts to torture and humiliation. Under authoritative international instruments—including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture—such punishments are absolutely prohibited. The continuation of flogging sentences, alongside the rapid expansion of the death penalty, paints a clear picture of an organised policy of repression—one that targets not only political prisoners but also a wide range of civil society actors, journalists, teachers, and other social groups. This approach again shows that Iran’s judiciary functions not to administer justice, but as an instrument for enforcing state violence. In these circumstances, the urgent and decisive action of international bodies to halt this cycle of violence and the systematic violation of human rights is more necessary than ever.
Wave of arrests
In the past month, at least 85 citizens were arrested on political or religious grounds, or for expressing their views on social media. Those detained included former political prisoners; justice-seeking (bereaved) families; political, civil and media activists, and social-media users; lawyers; artists; teachers; and athletes.
Following pressure on independent lawyers and the arrest of at least three lawyers in Gilan Province, ten other lawyers were summoned to judicial and security bodies on the charge of “propaganda against the state.”
At least 18 teacher trade-union activists in Shahr-eza were arrested after holding and attending a meeting of the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations. After their personal belongings—including mobile phones—were confiscated, they were released; only Masoud Farikhteh remained in custody and was transferred to prison.
This wave of arrests demonstrates the ongoing, systematic policy of suppressing freedom of expression and belief in Iran—an approach that violates Articles 19 and 23 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic as well as Iran’s international obligations under civil and political-rights instruments.
Events inside prisons
Over the past month, pressure on political prisoners has continued. A group of political prisoners in Qarchak Prison, Varamin—including Golrokh Iraee, Arghavan Fallahi, Neda Fotouhi, Sakineh Parvaneh, Nina Mashhadi, Pariyoush Moslemi, Nasim Soltan-Beigi, Marzieh Farsi, Azar Kamarbandi, Nahid Khodajo, Forough Taqizadeh, Zohreh Sardeh, and several others—were denied in-person visits with their lawyers and families. This punishment was imposed after they chanted slogans during a power outage.
Deaths in custody
At least seven prisoners died in various prisons last month:
- Ali Saeidi Garavand, a death-row prisoner in Ghezel Hesar, Karaj, died following a stroke and the lack of prompt medical care.
- Amir Amiri, a death-row prisoner in Ghezel Hesar, Karaj, died due to illness and failure to transfer him to medical facilities.
- Yaghoub Sabzi, a death-row prisoner in Yazd Prison, died by suicide; the absence of psychological services, inadequate oversight, and pressures arising from proceedings leading to a death sentence were cited among the reasons.
- Farhad Kabedani died in Yazd Prison due to cardiac arrest and delayed transfer to a medical centre.
- Maryam Shahreki, a detainee in a financial case in Kachu’i Prison, died from cardiac arrest and delayed transfer to a medical centre.
- Jamileh Azizi, a detainee in a financial case in Qarchak Prison, died due to illness and failure to transfer her to medical facilities.
- Mohammad Mangali died in Yazd Prison from cardiac arrest and delayed transfer to a medical centre.
Judicial rulings and enforcement of sentences
During the past month, courts issued sentences against 27 political and religious (prisoners of conscience) defendants.
Total prison terms issued: 57 years, 4 months, and 1 day.
Total fines: 380,800,000 tomans.
In addition, four political convicts were arrested to enforce previously issued sentences. Those sentenced included political and labour activists, lawyers, teachers, artists, writers, journalists, Sunni and Shia clerics, social-media users, and ethnic-rights activists.
Workplace incidents
Due to inadequate safety measures last month, 34 workers died while at work and 45 workers were injured. The main causes were: lack of standard safety equipment; insufficient training and oversight; and employer negligence. According to a Deputy Minister of Health, around 10,000 people die in Iran each year due to workplace incidents. Official statistics record over 2,000 deaths annually, but informal workers—including kulbars (cross-border porters) and fuel carriers—are not counted in these figures.
According to the Deputy Minister of Health, around 10,000 people die in Iran annually due to workplace accidents. Official statistics record more than 2,000 deaths annually. These figures do not include the deaths of informal workers, kolbars (cross-border porters), and fuel carriers.
Dismissal of workers
In the past month, at least 170 workers were dismissed. Examples include:
- Shahroud Steel: 30 workers were laid off due to repeated power cuts; a further 300 workers are at risk of dismissal.
- Vazan Company – Iranshahr 540-bed hospital project: 25 workers dismissed.
- Karun Dam project: 30 workers dismissed.
Violence against women
In the past month, 13 women were subjected to violence and 9 of them were killed. These nine victims were killed by relatives amid family disputes shaped by economic and cultural poverty and the absence of protective and supervisory systems. Two women were subjected to acid attacks, one woman was set on fire by her husband, and one girl was wounded by gunfire from her father.
Protests and strikes
Despite an intensely securitised environment, there were over 420 protest gatherings and actions across the country last month. The “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign reached its 87th week, with political prisoners in 52 prisons staging a hunger strike. Families of prisoners also held protest gatherings on Tuesdays. Hunger strikes took place in prisons including Evin, Ghezel Hesar, Mashhad, Urmia, Ahvaz, Tabriz, Sanandaj, Bukan, Yasuj, and others.
Social Security pensioners, telecommunications retirees, and other pensioners rallied against low pensions, discrimination, impoverished living conditions, poverty, inflation, and rising prices, demanding their rights and the fulfilment of long-ignored claims.
Workers in the oil and gas industries in dozens of regions protested against incomplete wage payments, pay discrimination, and the erosion of labour rights. Their core demands included full implementation of operational-zone allowances, removal of the salary cap, full payment of years-of-service benefits, cancellation of unlawful deductions, reimbursement of taxes unlawfully withheld, and full implementation of Article 10 of the Law on the Duties and Powers of the Ministry of Oil.
In addition, a wide range of groups—workers, employees, defrauded investors, farmers, nurses, drivers, and others—held repeated protest gatherings over the authorities’ neglect of their demands and failure to address fundamental problems.
Summary
Developments over the past month show that the unprecedented rise in executions in Iran is not a temporary phenomenon but part of an organised policy of repression. The extensive use of the death penalty—alongside torture, arbitrary arrests, deaths in detention, and other abuses—demonstrates the systematic violation of Iran’s international obligations, including the right to life (Article 6, ICCPR), the prohibition of torture (Article 7), and fair-trial guarantees.
Beyond its legal dimension, this execution tsunami signals a profound crisis of legitimacy and a widening rift between state and society—where policies of death and intimidation have replaced reform and dialogue. Such a trajectory not only flagrantly violates human dignity, but, over time, leads to greater instability and deepens social divisions. Despite severe repression, societal resistance—through campaigns such as Tuesdays Against Executions and broader social protests—shows that the people of Iran have not surrendered to violence-centred policies.
This persistence, together with the attention and support of international bodies, can increase pressure to stop the cycle of executions and hold the authorities to account. Ultimately, this report emphasises that confronting the wave of executions is not only a legal and humanitarian imperative, but a prerequisite for safeguarding human dignity and opening a path towards a free and just society.