Iran carried out at least 1,922 executions in 2025, more than twice the number recorded the previous year and the highest figure documented in over a decade, according to a new annual report published by a US-based human rights group.
The report by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), covering the period from January 1 to December 20, said executions rose by 106% compared with 2024, marking a sharp escalation in the use of capital punishment by Iran’s judiciary.
At least 10 executions were carried out in public, the report said, while the vast majority were conducted behind closed doors.
95% of executions, according to the findings, were not officially announced by Iranian authorities or state-affiliated media, underscoring what HRANA described as a systematic lack of transparency.
In addition to those executed, at least 168 people were newly sentenced to death in 2025, while Iran’s Supreme Court upheld death sentences in at least 56 cases.
Of those executed whose gender could be confirmed, 1,681 were men and 59 were women. The gender of roughly 10% of those put to death could not be verified due to limited official information, HRANA said.
Drug and murder cases dominate
Executions, the report found, were overwhelmingly linked to two categories of charges. Murder cases accounted for 47.55% of executions, while 46.10% were related to drug offences.
Human rights organizations have long criticized Iran’s use of the death penalty for narcotics-related crimes, arguing that such cases often involve unfair trials and disproportionately affect poorer and marginalized communities.
HRANA also documented the execution of at least two individuals who were under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offences, placing Iran among the few countries worldwide that continue to carry out executions of juvenile offenders, in violation of international law.
Prisons and provinces most affected
Executions were unevenly distributed geographically. The highest numbers were recorded in Alborz province, which hosts Ghezel Hesar prison – one of the country’s main execution sites – followed by Khorasan Razavi, Isfahan, Fars and Lorestan provinces.
The prisons with the highest number of executions included Ghezel Hesar in Karaj, Dastgerd prison in Isfahan, Adelabad prison in Shiraz, Vakilabad prison in Mashhad and Dieselabad prison in Kermanshah, the report said.
HRANA’s data shows that executions declined between 2015 and 2020, before rising sharply from 2021 onward, reaching a peak in 2025.
Part of broader repression
The report placed the surge in executions within a wider pattern of human rights violations. In 2025, HRANA recorded at least 2,606 protests and strikes across Iran, including more than 2,100 protest gatherings and over 400 labor strikes, many linked to unpaid wages, inflation and deteriorating living conditions.
It also documented thousands of cases of prisoners’ rights violations, including prolonged detention without trial, denial of medical care, solitary confinement and transfers to unsuitable detention facilities.
The increase in executions has drawn international concern. Earlier this month, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning Iran’s human rights record, with particular emphasis on capital punishment. Mai Sato, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, has warned that the scale and secrecy of executions could amount to crimes against humanity.
Institutions and officials linked to rights violations
In another section of its report, HRANA identified state institutions and officials most frequently linked to reported human rights violations in 2025, based on data collected throughout the year.
A total of 480 legal entities affiliated with different branches of the Islamic Republic, according to HRANA, were identified as human rights violators. Among them, 10 institutions accounted for the highest number of recorded cases over the past year.
The Ministry of Intelligence topped the list with 231 reported cases, followed by the Intelligence Organization of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces (FARAJA) with 172 cases, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps with 146 reports.
Judicial bodies also featured prominently. Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court was linked to 42 cases, followed by Evin Prison with 36 reports and Branch 36 of Tehran’s Court of Appeal with 24 cases.
HRANA also identified individuals who, based on documented cases, played the most direct roles in human rights violations. These figures, the report said, were predominantly judicial officials who contributed through issuing verdicts, handling cases or playing key roles in judicial and security processes.
According to the data, those named include Iman Afshari, Abbasali Houzan, Mohammad Taghi Taghizadeh, Mostafa Azizi, Abolghasem Salavati, Sajjad Dousti, Mohammadreza Tavakkoli, Qasem Hosseini Kouhkamarei, Ahmad Darvish-Goftar and Ali Ansari.
