Iran executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, most since 1989 — NGOs

Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, the highest number since 1989, two NGOs say, warning it may use capital punishment even more extensively after protests in January and the war against Israel and the US.

The number of executions represented an increase of 68 percent on the 975 people Iran put to death in 2024, and also included 48 women who were hanged, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) say in their joint annual report.

If the Islamic Republic “survives the current crisis, there is a serious risk that executions will be used even more extensively as a tool of oppression and repression,” the report says.

IHR — which requires two sources to confirm an execution, the majority of which are not reported in Iranian official media — says that the figure represents an “absolute minimum” for the number of hangings in 2025.

The figure amounts to an average of more than four executions per day.

The report says the number of executions is by far the highest since IHR began tracking it in 2008, and is the most reported since 1989, in the earlier years of the Islamic Revolution.

The NGOs also warn that “hundreds of detained protesters remain at risk of death sentences and execution” after being charged with capital crimes over January 2026 protests against the authorities — quashed by a crackdown that rights groups say left thousands dead and tens of thousands arrested.