A human rights group has accused Iran of carrying out at least 1,000 executions so far in 2025, describing it as a “mass killing campaign” taking place inside prisons.
The Norway-based group, Iran Human Rights, said in a statement on Tuesday that at least 64 people were executed in the past week alone, averaging more than nine hangings each day.
The organisation warned that the number of executions this year has already surpassed last year’s figure of 975, with more than three months still left in 2025. It is the highest tally since IHR began keeping official records in 2008.
“In recent months the Islamic republic has begun a mass killing campaign in Iran’s prisons, the dimensions of which — in the absence of serious international reactions — are expanding every day,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
He stressed that the killings “amount to crimes against humanity and must be placed at the top of the international community’s agenda.” He added, “Any dialogue between countries committed to the foundations of human rights and the Islamic republic that does not include the execution crisis in Iran is unacceptable.”
IHR said its figure of 1,000 executions is “an absolute minimum” because of restrictions on reporting and lack of transparency in the country. The real number, it warned, could be even higher.
Executions in Iran are usually carried out by hanging inside prisons, though public executions still take place on rare occasions.
Activists say the surge in executions is the highest since the 1980s and 1990s, when the country’s leadership used the death penalty heavily in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution and the Iran-Iraq war. They believe today’s rise is tied to the government’s attempts to suppress unrest following the 2022–2023 protests and the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is expected to meet Western leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week, where Iran’s nuclear programme will also be on the agenda after the UN Security Council voted to reimpose sanctions.
Rights groups, including Amnesty International, rank Iran as the second highest executioner in the world after China, which is believed to kill thousands each year, though no exact numbers are available.
