At least 241 prisoners were executed in Iran in October 2025 — a nearly 50% rise compared to the same month last year — marking the highest monthly toll in two decades, the Norway-based Hengaw human rights organization said on Saturday.
The figure shows an increase of at least 80 cases — about 49.5% — compared to October 2024, when 161 executions were recorded, the rights group said.
The Iran Human Rights Society had earlier reported 280 executions in the Iranian month of Mehr, which started on September 23, calling it “the bloodiest month for prisoners since the mass executions of 1988.”
Last month, a US-based rights group said at least 1,537 people were executed by hanging in Iran between October 2024 and October 2025, the highest figure in a decade.
The report by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) documented an 86 percent increase in executions compared with the previous year’s 823 cases. Of those executed, eight were hanged in public, 49 were women, and three were under 18 at the time of the alleged crimes.
“This increase peaked between 2024 and 2025, with at least 1,537 executions recorded, the highest number documented in the past decade,” HRANA said.
The data were collected from a combination of judicial sources, local reports, and the agency’s network of independent observers, according to HRANA.
94.14 percent of executions, it said, were carried out secretly and never announced by official sources, a pattern it said reflected the authorities’ efforts to “omit, conceal, or restrict the collection of such data.”
Tehran's leading reformist newspaper Shargh also reported last week that Iran carried out at least 88 public executions between 2011 and 2023.
The practice -- often witnessed by crowds including children -- has failed to reduce violent crime despite declining in recent years, the report said.
Amnesty International on October 16 urged an immediate halt to executions, saying more than 1,000 had been recorded so far in 2025, many following unfair trials aimed at silencing dissent and persecuting minorities.
“UN Member States must confront the Iranian authorities’ shocking execution spree with the urgency it demands. More than 1,000 people have already been executed in Iran since the beginning of 2025 -- an average of four a day,” Amnesty said.
