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Iran has executed astatine slightest 1,000 radical truthful acold successful 2025, the highest specified fig successful immoderate 3 decades, an NGO said connected Tuesday (September 23, 2025), denouncing the "mass sidesplitting campaign" successful prisons arsenic a transgression against humanity.
At slightest 64 radical were hanged successful the past week alone, an mean of much than 9 per day, said the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group, which counts and verifies executions successful Iran daily.
With much than 3 months of 2025 inactive to go, the fig is already the highest since IHR began keeping records successful 2008, topping the 975 executions recorded past year.
Responding to the report, the UN rights bureau successful Geneva described the existent fig of executions successful Iran arsenic "staggering".
Iran carried retired a question of executions successful the 1980s and aboriginal 1990s successful the aftermath of the Islamic gyration of 1979 and the Iran-Iraq war.
But activists accidental the Islamic Republic is present utilizing superior punishment much intensely than astatine immoderate clip successful the past 3 decades, with the clerical enactment nether Ayatollah Ali Khamenei challenged by 2022-2023 protests and the 12-day warfare against Israel successful June.
"In caller months the Islamic republic has begun a wide sidesplitting run successful Iran's prisons, the dimensions of which -- successful the lack of superior planetary reactions -- are expanding each day," said IHR manager Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
Iranian and European ministers were to clasp talks connected the atomic standoff astatine the UN General Assembly successful New York connected Tuesday. But Amiry-Moghaddam said the executions "amount to crimes against humanity and indispensable beryllium placed astatine the apical of the planetary community's agenda".
'Crime against humanity'
Raphael Chenuil Hazan, manager of Paris-based run radical Together Against the Death Penalty, said the figures confirmed his group's verdict that Iran's usage of the decease punishment tin beryllium classified arsenic "a transgression against humanity".
"The planetary assemblage indispensable see that Iran arsenic a authorities commits a transgression against humanity successful the wide and systematic usage of the decease penalty," helium told AFP.
Iran has executed 10 radical this twelvemonth successful charges of spying for Israel, according to IHR, the bulk aft the struggle with Israel began.
The latest to beryllium hanged connected specified charges was Babak Shahbazi, who was executed connected September 17 aft what Amnesty International described arsenic a "grossly unfair proceedings successful which the authorities ne'er investigated his torture."
IHR said its figures for executions are "an implicit minimum", with the existent fig apt higher "due to the deficiency of transparency and restrictions connected reporting".
'Horrific proportions'
Executions successful Iran are presently carried retired exclusively by hanging, though different methods person been utilized successful past. Most instrumentality spot successful prison, though determination are occasional nationalist hangings.
Iran past period defended its usage of the decease penalty, saying it applied lone to the astir superior offences with overseas ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei saying Tehran was "striving to bounds the usage of this punishment to lone the astir terrible crimes".
But IHR said astir hangings were for non-lethal offences, with 50% of executions for drugs-related cases.
Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN rights office, told AFP that it had "repeatedly stressed" that cause offences "must not beryllium punishable by death".
Out of IHR's toll for 2025, 28 of those hanged were women, galore of whom according to activists were convicted aft sidesplitting a hubby they had been forced to wed oregon who was violent.
According to quality rights groups including Amnesty, Iran is the world's 2nd astir prolific executioner aft China, which is believed to execute thousands each twelvemonth though nary precise figures are available.
Amnesty said this week that executions successful Iran had reached "horrific proportions" and "scores of people" were astatine hazard of execution successful Iran aft "unfair trials and convictions connected politically motivated charges".
