Iran carried out more than 2,000 executions over 12 months, marking a 29% increase from the previous year, according to a new human rights report documenting a sharp rise in the country’s use of capital punishment.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a nonprofit organization, released its findings earlier this month, warning of growing concerns over the number of executions, a lack of transparency surrounding death sentences and an increase in politically motivated cases.
The report said its findings “point to a sharp intensification in executions, continued secrecy surrounding implementation of death sentences, and an increase in political and security-related executions.”
According to HRANA, at least 2,003 people were executed in Iran between Oct. 10, 2025, and Oct. 8, 2026. The organization compiled 1,857 reports documenting the executions and recorded 230 new death sentences during the same period. By comparison, 1,553 executions were documented in the preceding reporting year.
Figures collected by HRA’s Statistics Center indicate that annual executions have risen consistently since the 2019–2020 reporting period, when 249 people were executed.
“The current total was also more than 182% above the average of 710 executions across the ten reporting periods,” the report notes.
The organization said the latest increase reflects a broader pattern of rising executions over several years, while restrictions on access to official records make it difficult to establish the full extent of capital punishment in the country.
“This trajectory places the current one-year increase within a longer pattern of escalation. Continued restrictions on access to official information, together with the very high share of unannounced executions, mean that the documented figures should be understood as the minimum that could be independently verified rather than necessarily the complete number of executions carried out,” the group said.
Among the 230 individuals sentenced to death during the reporting period, at least 16 were women, while six received sentences requiring public executions. Iran’s Supreme Court also upheld 74 of the death sentences.
Murder convictions accounted for 57.6% of all recorded executions, while drug-related offenses represented another 36.3%. Combined, the two categories made up more than 93% of the total, according to HRANA.
The organization also identified 69 executions involving political or security-related charges, including cases associated with anti-government demonstrations. Of those, 35 were linked to protests that took place in January 2026.
The report further documented the executions of at least 47 women and four individuals who were younger than 18 when they allegedly committed the offenses for which they were sentenced.
HRANA based its findings on information gathered by its reporting network, volunteers throughout Iran, independently verified publicly available sources and official judicial statements. The organization stressed that its figures represent only cases that could be independently confirmed and may not capture every execution carried out by Iranian authorities.
According to the report, approximately 95% of executions were never publicly disclosed by government sources, raising additional concerns about transparency and independent oversight.
