News Center- Iran executed at least 975 people in 2024, a 17% increase compared to 834 in 2023, said a report prepared by Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Together Against the Death Penalty (French: Ensemble contre la peine de mort, ECPM).

 According to the report, Only 95 executions in 2024 (less than 10%) were announced by official sources, compared to 15% in 2023, 12% in 2022, 16.5% in 2021 and an average of 33% in 2018-2020 and 90% of all executions included in the 2024 report, 880 executions, were not announced by the authorities.

“The 17th Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran reveals a horrifying escalation in the use of the death penalty by the Islamic Republic in 2024. Iranian authorities use the death penalty as a political tool of oppression and repression,” the rights groups said in the report.

“While the world’s attention was focused on escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, the Islamic Republic exploited the lack of international scrutiny to terrorize its own people, carrying out 5 to 6 executions every single day,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam. “Iranian people demanding their fundamental rights pose the greatest threat to the regime, and the death penalty remains its most powerful tool of political suppression. These executions are part of the Islamic Republic’s war against its own people to maintain its grip on power.”

31 women executed

According to the report, Iran also executed at least 31 women in 2024, “the highest number of women since 2008.”

Executions over nationwide protests

In the report, human rights groups said that Iran “is one of the highest executioners in the world”, accusing the authorities of using the death penalty to instill fear in society in order to prevent further nationwide protests.

In the nationwide protests following the state killing of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, IHR concluded "physical torture, sexual assault and rape were not merely isolated incidents but were systematically used against protesters to force false self-incriminating confessions.”

According to the report, at least 13 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protesters remain on death row in Iran.