UN experts expressed alarm on Monday at what they called an “unprecedented” surge in executions after over 1,000 people were put to death so far this year, warning they likely violated international law.
“The sheer scale of executions in Iran is staggering and represents a grave violation of the right to life,” human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, including Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, said in a statement.
“With an average of more than nine hangings per day in recent weeks, Iran appears to be conducting executions at an industrial scale that defies all accepted standards of human rights protection.”
At least 1,000 executions have been documented since January. Most were for drug-related offences and murder, followed by security-related charges and rape. Among those executed were at least 58 Afghans, including 57 men and one woman.
“The extensive use of the death penalty for drug-related offences is particularly alarming,” the experts said, adding that 499 people were executed for such crimes this year—far higher than the 24 to 30 executions annually recorded between 2018 and 2020.
They said the 2017 amendment to Iran’s anti-drug law, initially seen as progress for limiting the death penalty, has been effectively reversed, with executions surging again after 2021.
International law restricts capital punishment to the “most serious crimes,” interpreted as intentional murder, they added, stressing that drug offences do not meet that threshold.
Executions disproportionately impact marginalised communities from ethnic minority backgrounds, many of whom face confiscation of homes and farmland.
Most executions are not publicly announced, and trials are often held behind closed doors.
11 executed in 2025 on alleged espionage charges
In a post on X, Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, said 11 individuals have been executed on espionage charges, with nine carried out after Israel's military strikes on Iran on June 13.
The statement came as Iran executed the 11th man for allegedly spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence service.
"A new espionage bill introduced after the military escalation significantly expands the scope of conduct considered espionage to include activities linked to dissemination of information and media work, such as contact with foreign and diaspora media outlets," the experts said.
“The international community cannot remain silent in the face of such systematic violations of the right to life,” the experts said. “States must take concrete diplomatic action to pressure Iran to halt this execution spree.”
