“`html

Iran’s Surge in Executions: 2025 Reaches 15-Year high

Iranian authorities have executed ​over ⁣1,000 people thus far ⁤in 2025, the highest number of yearly executions in Iran that ⁢Amnesty International‍ has recorded in at least 15 years. The institution is calling on the Iranian ‌authorities ‌to establish an immediate moratorium ⁤on executions as a first step, and issuing an ‌urgent plea on other states to promptly ⁢intervene to pressure the ⁢Iranian authorities to halt all planned executions.

Within⁤ less than nine months, the‌ number of people executed by the⁣ Iranian⁤ authorities so far this year has already surpassed last ​year’s grim total of ​972 executions.

As the 2022 Woman Life Freedom ⁢uprising,the Iranian authorities increased their use of the death penalty as a tool ‍of state repression and to ⁤crush ‌dissent,and‌ amid an ongoing spike in executions for drug-related ⁤offences. In 2025 the authorities have also intensified their use of ‍the death ‍penalty under the guise ‍of national security in⁤ the aftermath ‌of the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran ⁤in June 2025 ​following⁣ Israeli military strikes‌ against Iran.

“The⁣ ongoing escalation of executions in Iran has reached horrific proportions as the Iranian authorities continue to systematically weaponize⁢ the death penalty as a tool of repression‍ and to quash dissent ​while displaying a chilling assault‍ on the right to life,” said ‌Heba Morayef, Regional Director for the Middle East and north Africa at Amnesty International.

The ongoing escalation​ of executions in Iran has reached⁤ horrific proportions as the Iranian⁤ authorities continue to ⁢systematically weaponize the death penalty ⁢as a tool of repression and to quash dissent while displaying a chilling assault on the right to life

Heba Morayef, Regional Director ‌for the Middle East and North‍ Africa

“The death penalty is abhorrent in all circumstances ‍and deploying it on ⁣a ‍large scale following⁣ routinely grossly unfair​ trials ‍compounds the injustice. Those targeted with complete ⁣impunity include political dissidents, ⁢members of oppressed ethnic minorities, protesters and those sentenced to ​death for⁢ drug-related offences.”

“The international community must take robust,⁢ immediate ​action⁣ to pressure the Iranian authorities to⁢ immediately halt all planned executions, quash all‍ death sentences and impose an official moratorium on⁣ all executions with a view to full abolition of the death penalty. Given ⁢the systematic impunity⁢ for arbitrary executions, states must also pursue meaningful pathways ⁢for holding Iranian officials ⁣to account, including by exercising ⁣worldwide jurisdiction over⁣ all officials ⁣reasonably suspected of criminal obligation for crimes under international law and other grave‍ violations of human ‌rights.”

Those⁣ at risk include​ individuals‍ sentenced ⁤to death for drug-related offences ​or overly⁢ broad and vaguely defined charges such as⁣ “enmity against God”​ (MohareHeh), “corruption on earth” (EFSAD-E FEL-ARZ), and‌ “armed rebellion against the state” (berries) following‍ grossly unfair trials before Revolutionary Courts.

Amnesty ⁣International’s research has consistently shown that ‍Revolutionary Courts, wich exercise jurisdiction over national security and drug-related offences, lack independence and impose harsh⁢ sentences, including death sentences, following grossly unfair trials, and those trials…