On the World Day Against the Death Penalty, the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Iran expressed grave concern over the shocking surge in executions, announcing that, according to reliable information, Iran’s regime has executed more than 1,000 people since the beginning of 2025.
In a statement the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) announced the number of executions carried out over the past year as follows:
“Over the past year (from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025), the religious fascism ruling Iran has recorded a bloody and unprecedented record of cruelty and crime. During this period, the execution of 1,654 prisoners was documented across 31 provinces, representing a 2.3-fold increase compared to the same period the previous year (with 851 executions), and a 2.8-fold increase compared to the year before that (with 693 executions).”
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NCRI also reported that the number of executions in 2025 (March was 1,200: “The number of executions in the first nine months of 2025 reaches at least 1,200. This is while in 2024, a total of 1,001 prisoners were executed. The number of executions during Masoud Pezeshkian’s tenure has reached 1,892.
This figure represents the highest annual number of executions in Iran in at least the past fifteen years.
According to the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission, many of those executed had been sentenced to death on charges such as “espionage.”
Last week, Iran’s regime Guardian Council approved a law expanding the application of the death penalty to vaguely defined crimes under the label of “espionage.” The UN Fact-Finding Mission warned that this legislation could dramatically accelerate the pace of executions in Iran.
In its previous report, the UN Fact-Finding Mission emphasized that executions in Iran are part of a widespread and systematic attack against citizens who demanded rights and equality during the 2022 protests.
The Mission also stated that such actions may constitute crimes against humanity and could entail individual criminal responsibility for those involved, including judges who issued arbitrary death sentences.
In its latest statement, the UN Fact-Finding Mission once again urged the authorities of Iran’s regime to immediately halt all executions as a first step toward the complete abolition of the death penalty.
The statement also calls on the Iranian regime to commute all death sentences to other penalties and to immediately release all individuals sentenced to death arbitrarily and solely for exercising their human rights, including the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission also urged other countries to use all available diplomatic and legal tools, including investigation and prosecution under the principle of universal jurisdiction where appropriate, to hold accountable those responsible for the widespread violation of the fundamental right to life in Iran.
