At least 31 women were executed in Iran in 2024, according to the Oslo-based rights group Iran Human Rights (IHR), marking the highest annual figure in 17 years since the organization began documenting executions.
The report, titled “Women and the Death Penalty in Iran: A Gendered Perspective,” sheds light on systemic gender disparities and judicial bias affecting women on death row.
It highlights that many women executed for murder acted out of desperation in response to violence, rape, or coercive control, with about 70% of cases involving male partners.
The report noted that Islamic Republic's legal system rarely considers mitigating circumstances, as women’s testimonies are worth half of men’s, and laws fail to address domestic violence or marital rape.
“The execution of women in Iran reveals not just the brutality of the death penalty, but the depth of systemic gender inequality in the judicial system,” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of IHR. He called on the international community to act urgently to address “systemic injustices and gender apartheid” in Iran.
The report also revealed that transparency around executions has worsened, with only 26% of women’s executions officially announced, a figure dropping to 12% in recent years.
Marginalized ethnic minorities, including women from Sistan and Baluchistan, are disproportionately represented among those executed, reflecting the intersection of poverty, discrimination, and judicial bias.
Since 1979, the Islamic Republic has used executions to maintain power and instill fear, IHR said, underscoring the need for international attention to systemic injustices and the plight of women on death row.
IHR emphasized that the report does not account for the significant number of female political prisoners executed during the 1980s, nor does it include women subjected to stoning or hanging for adultery during the first three decades of the Islamic Republic.
Iran witnessed a stark rise in executions in 2024, with at least 930 death sentences carried out, according to the Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran.
The figure for years 2023 and 2022 were 811 and 579 respectively, which shows a consistent upward trend.
