In a new report, Amnesty International stated that the Iranian regime carried out at least 2,159 executions in 2025, marking the highest number of executions in more than four decades. According to the human rights organization, this figure played a major role in the sharp global rise in executions.
The human rights organization announced on Monday, May 18, that a total of at least 2,707 people were executed worldwide in 2025, the highest recorded figure since 1981.
The Amnesty International report states that the increase in executions is not limited to Iran; however, the Iranian regime alone accounted for the largest share of this trend and set an unprecedented record.
Amnesty International emphasizes that the rise in executions in Iran has coincided with an intensified security and political climate in the country. According to the organization, Iranian regime officials, following widespread anti-government protests in January last year and after the start of the war with Israel and the United States in February, have turned the death penalty into a tool for political repression and spreading fear in society.
The report states that governments which restrict civic space and silence dissent are increasingly resorting to the death penalty to consolidate their power.
Amnesty International says this trend has intensified particularly in Iran, where executions in many cases are carried out in opaque circumstances and without respect for fair trial standards.
Other human rights organizations have also repeatedly warned in recent months about the rising number of executions in Iran. According to these organizations, some of those executed include political prisoners, detained protesters, and individuals tried in security-related cases.
In conclusion, Amnesty International stressed that due to restricted access to information in Iran, the actual number of executions is likely even higher than the reported figures. The organization called on the international community to exert greater pressure on the Iranian regime to halt the wave of executions in Iran and to prevent the government from using the death penalty as a tool of political repression.
