Breathing in Confinement

Monthly Report on Human Rights Violations in Iran – 20 October to 20 November 2025: 305 Executions in 30 Days

30-November-2025

Category: ethnic minorities، executions، Freedom of Expression، Labor and guilds، Prisoners، Women

30 November 2025
News categories: Freedom of Expression – Executions – Religious Minorities – Ethnic Minorities – Women – Prisoners – Labour and Workers’ Rights

Breathing in Confinement – The Statistical Centre of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran has released its monthly report on human rights violations in Iran, based on investigations and verified documentation, covering the period from 20 October to 20 November 2025.

Over the past month, the Islamic Republic witnessed an unprecedented escalation in systematic violations of the right to life. According to documented data compiled by the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, at least 305 prisoners were executed across various prisons in the country. This figure places the month among the deadliest periods in the past four decades. This sweeping wave of executions is not a collection of isolated judicial rulings but rather a deliberate, organised, and increasingly politicised policy aimed at spreading fear, suppressing social dissent, and reinforcing the state’s repressive authority.

Despite this shocking number, the Islamic Republic officially announced the executions of only nine prisoners. The remaining 296 executions were carried out secretly — without public disclosure, legal documentation, or independent judicial oversight. This stark disparity between reality and official reporting forms part of a broader strategy of maximal secrecy intended both to conceal the true scale of the killings and to reduce the international cost of human rights violations.

 

            A) Systematic Secrecy: Clear Violations of Legal Obligations

The widespread concealment of executions — including failure to announce executions, preventing final family visits, clandestine burials, and threatening relatives — constitutes clear violations of:

• Fundamental principles of fair trial
• Judicial transparency
• Articles 6 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• The right of families to be informed and allowed a final visit
• States’ obligations to prevent enforced disappearances

In addition, the following actions represent, under international law, the destruction of evidence and obstruction of justice, and may fall within the framework of crimes against humanity:

• Destroying graves of executed political prisoners
• Converting Section 41 of Behesht Zahra cemetery to prevent identification
• Blocking independent documentation efforts

 

             B) A Dual Strategy: Intensified Executions + Secrecy

Analysis of current trends shows that the government is moving toward a dual model of repression:

1. Accelerated and industrial-scale executions, with disproportionate targeting of political prisoners, ethnic minorities, and individuals charged with drug-related offences
2. Deliberate and systematic concealment aimed at preventing domestic and international pressure from mounting

These two components form the architecture of a state policy of social control through death — a policy in clear and fundamental conflict with human rights standards, international law, and even the basic norms of criminal justice.

 

             C) International Implications and the Responsibility of the Global Community

The Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran has repeatedly warned that the continued silence and inaction of the international community enables the expansion of these lethal state policies. At a time when:

• Executions are being carried out at unprecedented levels
• Secrecy is increasing
• The judicial system lacks independence and any meaningful oversight

There is an urgent need to activate international accountability mechanisms, including:

• Referral of Iran’s case to the international criminal courts
• Activation of UN truth-seeking and fact-finding mechanisms
• Targeted diplomatic pressure

 

            D) The Role of Civil Resistance Against the Machinery of Execution

In the face of this organised structure of violence, the civil resistance of political prisoners — particularly through the “Tuesdays Against Execution” campaign, which last month reached its ninety-fifth week — and the protest gatherings of families of political prisoners across various cities, have become symbols of legitimate resistance. The continuation of these protests demonstrates that, despite intense repression, society continues to resist the state’s policy of physical elimination.

 

Monthly Summary of Human Rights Violations in Iran

• At least 305 prisoners were executed
• Eight prisoners — including two political prisoners and three prisoners of conscience — received death sentences
• The Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of eight additional prisoners, including four political prisoners
• One prisoner died under torture in a detention centre of the Intelligence Ministry
• Eight prisoners died due to the denial of medical care
• At least 105 citizens were arrested
• Nine flogging sentences were issued, and one flogging sentence was carried out on a political prisoner
• Eight political and religious prisoners received a combined total of 317 years, 4 months, and 2 days of imprisonment, plus 170 million tomans in fines
• Twenty-eight political prisoners or individuals with pending cases were re-arrested for enforcement of prior sentences
• In the labour sector: 43 workers died, 137 were injured, and more than 459 were dismissed
• Eight women were killed in gender-based violence incidents
• Nearly 500 protests, gatherings, and demonstrations took place across the country

In addition, the nationwide “Tuesdays Against Execution” campaign — ongoing for more than a year and a half — entered its ninety-fifth week last month. Prisoners in 54 prisons across the country continued their hunger strikes in protest against the widespread executions. Families of political prisoners also held protest gatherings in multiple cities despite threats and repression. Retirees, workers, teachers, and other groups held continuous demonstrations over economic, social, and political grievances.

 

Overall Execution Statistics in the Past Month

Based on data compiled by the Statistical Centre of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, at least 305 prisoners were executed across various prisons in the country over the past month.
The charges attributed to these prisoners are as follows:

• 130 prisoners on drug-related charges
• 170 prisoners on murder charges
• 5 prisoners on rape charges

 

 

2. Execution Trends from 20 March to 20 November 2025

A review of execution statistics shows that from 20 March to 20 November 2025, at least 1,466 prisoners were executed in prisons across Iran.

 

According to documented data from the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, the implementation of death sentences entered a new phase of intensity and secrecy over the last month.

While initial October figures showed 286 executions, subsequent investigations and newly uncovered information revealed an additional 10 secret executions, raising the final October total to 296.
On this basis, the registration of 305 executions in November represents an approximately 30% increase compared to October — a rise that came after the discovery of hidden executions.

This increase not only reflects the continuation of mass executions but also signifies the regime’s expanding and systematic secrecy in managing its machinery of death. The surge in November executions, combined with the exposure of concealed executions in October, makes clear that the authorities are implementing a policy of daily terrorisation — using execution not merely as a tool of punishment but as a political, psychological, and social instrument of control.

This state policy is built on three pillars:

1. Escalation of executions

Daily and mass implementation of death sentences, often without any official announcement.

2. Systematic concealment

Delays in announcing executions, clandestine burials, refusal to hand over bodies, removal of names from official lists, and media censorship.

3. Creating persistent fear

Keeping society in a permanent state of psychological insecurity and distrust.Under these conditions, the increase to 305 executions in the past month constitutes a government-driven pattern designed to reinforce its security-dominated hegemony — a pattern that deepens month by month through secrecy, systematically violating the right to life and stripping away human dignity.

According to the rising trajectory of executions in the past five years, the number of executions recorded in November 2025 has reached an unprecedented level. A comparison of this month’s figures with previous years shows:

• November 2025 recorded 15 times the number of executions of November 2021
• More than double the number of executions recorded in November 2024

In other words, executions have increased by approximately 110–115% compared to last year.

 

From 20 March 2025 to 20 November 2025, at least 1,466 prisoners were executed across Iran.
In the same period last year, the recorded number was 715 executions.

 

 

3- Geographic Distribution of Executions

In November 2025, executions were recorded across a wide geographic spread — in at least 60 different cities across the country. This breadth demonstrates that execution has become a nationwide and routine mechanism of repression within the Islamic Republic’s security structure.

Karaj recorded the highest number of executions due to its two active prisons: Ghezel Hesar and the Central Prison of Karaj.

Although executions for drug-related charges were temporarily halted in Ghezel Hesar following the mass hunger strike of prisoners in October, executions for murder charges have increased at an alarming rate.
In just one month, 20 prisoners were executed in Ghezel Hesar alone — effectively turning the prison into a killing ground.

The geographic distribution of executions — as shown in the chart below — indicates that after Karaj, the cities of Shiraz, Mashhad, and Yazd recorded the next highest totals, accounting for a significant portion of last month’s executions.
This pattern highlights concentrated execution activity within specific provinces that play a central role in the state’s execution-driven governance.

 

4. Systematic Secrecy and the Absence of Transparency

Despite 305 Recorded Executions Last Month, Only 9 Were Officially Announced

Despite the registration of 305 executions in the past month, the Islamic Republic’s official information outlets announced only nine of these cases.
This means that over 97% of the executions were not disclosed through state channels, but were instead documented by the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran through reports from families, local activists, and an extensive network of citizen journalists.

As the chart below illustrates, nearly all executions last month were carried out secretly. This trend indicates that the real number of executions is likely higher than the documented figures.
Severe censorship, the absence of independent sources, security pressure on families, and threats against witnesses have forced many executions into complete silence.

This reflects a deliberate state policy: a structured and planned concealment of executions. Such secrecy not only prevents public and media scrutiny, but also removes any possibility of domestic or international accountability for widespread violations of the right to life, thereby reinforcing the cycle of hidden executions.

 

 

 

5 – Executions of Women and Juvenile Offenders

According to data from the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, at least eight women were executed in various prisons across the country last month.
This number, combined with the 50 women executed since the beginning of the year, reflects a sharp increase in the use of the death penalty against women.
For comparison, the total number of women executed last year was 38.

This rising trend highlights the intersection of structural discrimination, chronic poverty, domestic violence, and the inability of the criminal justice system to protect vulnerable women.

1. A) Structural and Social Drivers Behind These Cases

A significant proportion of women facing serious charges—such as murder or drug-related offences—live in conditions with common characteristics:

• Poverty and economic instability
• Financial dependence on a spouse or family
• Long-term exposure to domestic violence
• Lack of access to support systems, safe shelters, or specialised counselling
• Discriminatory laws and real barriers to accessing justice

Criminological findings show that many women involved in homicide cases were themselves victims of violence for years and acted in moments of acute crisis, without access to protective options.
This is not a justification for crime, but an emphasis on the damaging structures that drive women into such situations—and then expose them to the harshest possible punishment.

1. B) Executed Women and Their Charges Last Month

Executions on Murder Charges

Four women were executed last month on murder charges:

• Qom Prison: Narges Ahmadi
• Mashhad Prison: Katayoun Shamsi
• Khorramabad Prison: Mitra Zamani
• Sari Prison: Ghamari Abbaszadeh, 29

These cases were often rooted in domestic violence, family conflict, and the absence of protective mechanisms.

Executions on Drug-Related Charges

Four other women were executed last month on drug-related charges:

• Rasht Prison: Mahboubeh Jalali, 38
• Yazd Prison: Kobra Rezaei
• Tabriz Prison: Zahra Ghaffari, 43
• Damghan Prison: Shokat Vaisi

Drug-related cases in Iran frequently involve low-income women, women who are heads of households, or women acting under coercion or control of their husbands.
In many instances, these women played minor or peripheral roles yet received the harshest punishments.

 

6 – Ethnic Minorities and Structural Discrimination

Recorded data show that at least 41 of those executed last month belonged to ethnic minority groups, including:

• 39 Kurdish prisoners
• 2 Baloch prisoners

This disproportionate distribution once again highlights the longstanding discriminatory policies and security-driven criminalisation of ethnic minorities in Iran.

Among the executed were also nine Afghan nationals and one Iraqi national, raising serious concerns regarding:

• lack of fair trial guarantees for foreign nationals
• absence of interpretation services
• lack of legal counsel
• heightened vulnerability of migrants

 

7 – Public Execution

A disturbing and alarming scene unfolded once again last month:
A prisoner named Mahmoud Ansari was publicly hanged in 7-Tir Square in Yasuj.

With this case, the number of public executions since the beginning of the year has reached seven.
Public execution is not only a blatant violation of human dignity, but also a clear demonstration of the state’s use of capital punishment as a tool of intimidation, spectacle, and public terror.

 

 

2 . Issuance and Confirmation of Death Sentences

In the past month, death sentences were issued for at least eight individuals, and the death sentences of eight other prisoners were upheld by the Supreme Court. Among those sentenced to death are two political prisoners and six individuals (including one woman) charged with murder.

Among the political prisoners sentenced to death is Zahra Tabari Shahbazi, 67, from Rasht, an electrical engineer and a member of the Iranian Organisation for Engineering Order of Building. She is a graduate of Isfahan University of Technology and holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy from Sweden. Tabari was sentenced to death by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Rasht, presided over by Judge Ahmad Darvish, on the charge of affiliation with the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

Another political prisoner, Kavis Abdollahzadeh, was sentenced to death by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Mahabad, presided over by Judge Ahmad Siamy, on charges of forming a group to overthrow the government, planning a nationwide uprising, and collaborating with the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan.

Additionally, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of four political prisoners, two prisoners charged with murder, and two prisoners convicted of “moharebeh” through armed robbery.
Among these individuals, the death sentences of Reza Abdali, Masoud Jamaee, Alireza Mardasi, and Farshad Etemadifar — all accused of membership in the PMOI/MEK — were formally confirmed.

 

3 – Sentencing to Flogging

In the past month, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic issued a total of 585 lashes against nine defendants, and a sentence of 38 lashes was carried out.

Among those sentenced:

• 2 individuals were convicted of “disturbing public order”
• 2 individuals were convicted of “desecration of a corpse”
• 5 individuals were convicted of bribery
• One of the defendants is a woman, who received a 30-lash sentence

Furthermore, Atefeh Shakermi, aunt of the late Nika Shahkarami and a prominent justice-seeking activist, was sentenced to 38 lashes.

Flogging is an inherently degrading, cruel, and inhumane punishment. Despite explicit prohibitions in international instruments — including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture — Iranian courts continue to issue and carry out such sentences as tools of coercion and suppression.
The continued use of flogging not only exemplifies the institutionalised violence within Iran’s judiciary but also reflects ongoing punitive measures against political and civil activists and individuals lacking protection against the state’s repressive mechanisms.

 

4 – Wave of Arrests

In the past month, at least 105 citizens were arrested for political, religious, social-media, justice-seeking, protest-related, or civil-society activities. Those detained came from diverse backgrounds, including:

• Former political prisoners
• Families of victims and justice-seeking activists
• Civil activists, media workers, and social-media users
• Participants in protest gatherings
• Artists, teachers, and athletes
• Baha’i citizens and Sunni activists

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also issued a statement claiming to have arrested several individuals in various provinces on charges of espionage for the United States and Israel — without providing any details regarding identities, numbers, or case information.

 

5 – Conditions Inside Prisons

Deaths in Custody Due to Torture or Denial of Medical Care

During the past month, at least eight prisoners, including one prisoner of conscience, died in various prisons across the country.
These deaths were primarily the result of inadequate medical care, severe psychological pressure, or suicide caused by inhumane prison conditions.

List of deceased prisoners:

1. Amir Neisi, prisoner of conscience, Ward 8 of Sheiban Prison (Ahvaz) – died due to severe infection and delay in medical transfer
2. Aliyar Havasi, Ghezel Hesar Prison – died from respiratory illness and lack of medical attention
3. Hadi Rezaei, death-row prisoner, Ghezel Hesar Prison – suicide due to psychological pressure and lack of medical services
4. Bahman Karmelo, Ghezel Hesar Prison – died from cardiac arrest and absence of medical facilities
5. Ali Mirza Niazi, death-row prisoner, Vakilabad Prison (Mashhad) – suicide caused by pressure and inadequate support
6. Aziz Abiyat, Ahvaz Prison – died from heart attack due to delayed medical transfer
7. Abolfazl Hosseini, sentenced to 10 years, Malayer Prison – suicide resulting from severe pressure
8. Mehrdad Ahmadinejad, Central Prison of Karaj – suicide due to psychological distress and lack of mental-health care

 

Punitive and Security Measures

• Mir Yousef Younesi, a political prisoner, was denied family visitation for three weeks for attempting to prevent the transfer of Ehsan Afrashteh for execution.
• On 10 November 2025, prison guards at Evin Prison raided the ward where Afrashteh was held, assaulted him, and transferred him — injured — to an undisclosed location.
  This attack triggered protests and chants by the prisoners.

 

 

6 – Judicial Sentencing and Enforcement of Rulings

In the past month, judicial rulings were issued for 44 individuals in political or religious-belief cases.

• Total prison sentences: 317 years, 4 months, and 2 days
• Total financial penalties: 17 million tomans
• Re-arrests for enforcement of sentences: 28 political and religious prisoners

The defendants belonged to various social groups, including:

• Political and cultural activists
• Teachers and artists
• Ethnic activists
• Social-media users
• Baha’i citizens and Christian converts

 

 

7 – Labour-Related Incidents

Events of the past month once again demonstrated how the lack of workplace safety gravely endangers workers’ lives on a large scale.

• 43 workers killed
• 137 workers injured

Main causes:
Lack of safety equipment, absence of training, employer negligence, and lack of government oversight.

Provincial Reports

• Mazandaran: 55 deaths and 440 injuries over six months
• Kermanshah: 29 deaths and 636 injuries over seven months

According to the Deputy Minister of Health, around 10,000 people die annually in work-related incidents in Iran.
Official statistics, however, record only about 2,000 deaths — a figure that excludes informal workers, kolbars (border porters), and fuel carriers, whose deaths are systematically omitted.

 

Mass Dismissal of Workers

More than 459 workers were dismissed in the past month. Major cases include:

• 450 workers in Kerman’s mining and industrial sector
• Dismissal of 7 amusement-park workers at Laleh Park in Zahedan
• Collective dismissal of workers from the Anjerd Copper Mine in Ahar
• Dismissal of Kourosh Kheiri, a worker with the Lorestan Education Department, who self-immolated in protest
• Dismissal of Shaho Safari, a firefighter from Sanandaj, who also self-immolated in protest

 

 

8 – Violence Against Women

Over the past month, eight women were killed due to domestic violence or so-called “honour” crimes. These incidents stem from economic hardship, cultural marginalisation, lack of social oversight, and the absence of protective systems for women at risk.

Relationship of Perpetrators to Victims

• 3 cases: killed by husband
• 1 case: mother killed by son
• 1 case: sister killed by brother
• 1 case: woman killed by son-in-law
• 1 case: woman killed for refusing forced marriage to a member of the Revolutionary Guard

 

Wave of Protests and Strikes

Despite security pressure, widespread protest movements took place last month:

• Around 500 protests and demonstrations were recorded
• “Tuesdays Against Execution” entered its 95th week, with political prisoners in 54 prisons staging hunger strikes
• Families of political prisoners and civil activists held gatherings outside prisons
• During one gathering outside Evin Prison, security forces violently attacked families and arrested four civil activists
• Numerous social groups held repeated protests, including retirees, oil and gas workers, farmers, nurses, drivers, fraud victims, and government employees

Main demands included:

• Implementation of legal regulations
• Ending discrimination and paying full and timely wages
• Enforcement of hardship and operational-zone allowances
• Cancellation of unlawful deductions and return of withheld funds
• Improvement of living conditions amid inflation, poverty, and rising costs

 

Conclusion

A review of last month’s statistics and events paints a clear picture of systematic violations of the right to life, security-driven repression, collapse of protective structures, and intensifying social crises in Iran.

Mass and secret executions, deaths in custody, harsh judicial sentences, domestic violence, the deaths of workers, and the violent suppression of protests all show that these developments are not isolated or accidental. They are part of a governance model built on repression, control, and elimination.

In such circumstances, the only effective paths to confront this deadly cycle are:

• Independent documentation
• Civil resistance
• Solidarity among families
• Activation of international accountability mechanisms

The inaction of the international community effectively reinforces state repression and the cycle of secret executions.
Nevertheless, civil resistance — including the “Tuesdays Against Execution” campaign, the protest gatherings of families of death-row prisoners, and the hunger strike of Ghezel Hesar prisoners — stands as a clear symbol of society’s determination to defend human dignity and the right to life.

This report underscores that ending the wave of executions and other forms of repression is not only a legal obligation, but a human and moral imperative, and a necessary step toward building a just, free, and dignified society.