Geneva, February 27, 2025 – A joint written statement submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council by multiple non-governmental organizations (NGOs) underscores a dramatic rise in executions in the Islamic Republic of Iran, urging immediate international intervention.
According to the statement (A/HRC/58/NGO/301), compiled with accurate data from within Iran, around 1,000 prisoners were executed in 2024 across 86 prisons. Among the victims were at least 32 women and six juvenile offenders. The statement further highlights that Iran executed more women than any other country with available data. Notably, 65 percent of these executions occurred after Masoud Pezeshkian assumed the presidency in August 2024.
Executions as a Tool of Repression
The report warns that Iranian authorities systematically use the death penalty as a political tool to intimidate and silence dissent. While a majority of executions were related to drug offenses, at least a dozen political dissidents, including those arrested during the 2019 and 2022 uprisings, were also executed despite widespread international condemnation.
#Iran News: Global Concerns Over Regime’s #HumanRightsViolations Raised at @UN Human Rights Councilhttps://t.co/TkR7dy2Y5f
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) January 25, 2025
Additionally, over 50 political prisoners currently face execution. Lawyers representing some of these detainees argue that their clients were denied fair trials and subjected to severe judicial irregularities. In November 2024, six political activists—Abolhassan Montazer (65), Pouya Ghobadi (32), Vahid Bani-Amerian (32), Babak Alipour (33), Ali Akbar Daneshvarkar (57), and Mohammad Taghavi (58)—were sentenced to death on charges including “armed rebellion against the government” and “collusion against national security.” The sentences were handed down after months of reported torture and coercive interrogations.
UN Special Rapporteur’s Findings on Atrocity Crimes
The joint statement references findings from the July 17, 2024, report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, which classifies the 1988 mass executions of 30,000 political prisoners as ongoing crimes against humanity. The report states:
- “The 1988 Massacre in the Islamic Republic of Iran refers to the ‘systematic’ and ‘widespread’ attack on a civilian population resulting in mass murder, summary, arbitrary, and extra-judicial executions.”
- “There is considerable evidence that mass killings, torture, and other inhumane acts against members of the PMOI (MEK) were conducted with genocidal intent.”
#Iran News in Brief
At the 55th session of the Human Rights Council, @JavaidRehman's UN report exposes a concerning 43% spike in executions in Iran, urging global attention to the escalating #humanrights crisis. Calls for justice for 1980 and 1988 massacres.… pic.twitter.com/S2BnyM1Ysq— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) March 18, 2024
The 1988 massacre, allegedly initiated through a fatwa by then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, remains a focal point of Iran’s culture of impunity. The report stresses that high-ranking officials, including judges, intelligence officers, Revolutionary Guard members, and prison authorities, were involved in the extrajudicial executions.
Calls for Accountability and International Action
With Iran’s execution rate reaching a three-decade high, the statement urges the UN Human Rights Council to establish an international accountability mechanism to address impunity and human rights violations in Iran. It calls upon UN member states to:
- Invoke universal jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute Iranian officials responsible for mass executions and human rights abuses.
- Impose targeted sanctions on the Iranian government, judiciary, and security officials involved in executions and suppression of dissent.
The statement further notes that executions continue in secrecy, with 92 percent of cases unreported in the Iranian state media. In response, political prisoners across 34 Iranian prisons have launched a protest movement known as “No to Execution Tuesdays,” staging hunger strikes every week.
Prof. Javaid Rehman exposes #Iran's 1988 massacre as one of the worst atrocity crimes, with top officials committing crimes against humanity and #genocide. Yet, those responsible remain in power. The international community must act. pic.twitter.com/tsa95AHac7
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 10, 2024
Growing Global Pressure
The report has received support from international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Genocide Watch, the International Alliance of Women, and the Iran Human Rights Monitor. These groups emphasize the urgency of intervention to halt state-sanctioned executions and judicial repression in Iran.
The joint statement underscores that without immediate action, executions will continue unchecked, further escalating Iran’s human rights crisis. The UN Special Rapporteur’s findings present an opportunity for global accountability mechanisms to break Iran’s cycle of impunity.