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Global Campaign
to Stop Executions
in Iran

The Global Campaign to Stop Executions in Iran is a movement dedicated to protesting every execution in Iran and increasing global awareness of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s killing machine. Our goal is to make every life sentence in Iran increasingly costly for the Islamic regime and ultimately to end the practice of capital punishment. We oppose all forms of execution in Iran, whether they are justified under Sharia Law, used as a pretext for combating drug smuggling, or applied to political dissent. We seek to abolish the death penalty in Iran forever.

 

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Urgent Appeal — Joint Statement on Escalating Human Rights Violations in Iran

 

To

Excellencies, Distinguished Members of the United Nations Human Rights Council

The Members of the Third Committee
 United Nations General Assembly
 New York

 

Your Excellencies

We, the undersigned — a group of human rights defenders, civil society activists, and families of victims of human rights violations in Iran — express our deepest concern over the intensifying and continuing pattern of organized repression by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Three years after the beginning of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, the human rights situation in Iran has entered an unprecedented phase of state violence and systematic violations of fundamental rights. While international attention has gradually declined, the Iranian authorities have exploited this silence to launch a new wave of executions, torture, enforced disappearances, and political persecution.

From the beginning of 2025 until the end of September, at least 1,042 individuals have been executed in Iran — placing the country first in the world in proportion to its population. This figure marks a sharp increase compared to previous years: from approximately 580 cases in 2022 to over 975 in 2024, with an upward trend continuing.

The high number of executions in Iran demonstrates a systematic pattern of using the death penalty as a tool of state intimidation and social control. A significant portion of those executed belong to ethnic and religious minorities — particularly Kurds, Baluchis, and Arabs, as well as Afghan migrants. In numerous cases, death sentences have been issued after brief trials lacking minimum fair trial guarantees. Only a fraction of executions are officially announced, while many take place in secrecy. Public hangings have also resumed this year, with several cases of executions carried out in public.

Following the twelve-day armed confrontation between Iran and Israel in June 2025, Iranian security forces exploited the wartime and security atmosphere to intensify domestic repression. During that period, more than 21,000 individuals were arrested nationwide, including civil society activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and dual nationals. Thousands of foreign nationals — mostly Afghan migrants — were also detained on alleged security grounds. The wave of arrests has continued even after the hostilities ended. Many detainees remain subjected to enforced disappearance, with their families unaware of their fate or whereabouts. The risk of torture and execution for these detainees remains acute. Within the one hundred days following the mass arrests, the rate of executions reportedly increased by about 40 percent, averaging four executions per day.

The situation of political and religious prisoners in Iran — particularly in Evin, Qarchak, Fashafouyeh, and Ghezel Hesar prisons — constitutes clear evidence of torture and inhuman treatment. Shortages of medicine, inadequate food, lack of ventilation, overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and degrading behavior are part of their daily reality. Many prisoners are denied contact with their families, access to lawyers, and medical care.

In response to these conditions, on 13 October 2025, a group of prisoners in Ghezel Hesar Prison (Karaj) launched a hunger strike in protest against the ongoing wave of executions, the inhumane conditions of detention, and the violent conduct of prison officials. The strike was temporarily suspended after several weeks due to the deteriorating health of prisoners and severe pressure from prison authorities. During the strike, many prisoners suffered from extreme physical weakness, loss of consciousness, and significant weight loss. Authorities sought to break the protest by cutting off access to water, medicine, and phone calls. Several strikers were transferred to solitary confinement and beaten, while their families were left without news for weeks. Although the strike has ended, serious concerns remain about the fate of the detainees and the continued use of executions. The hunger strike represented a powerful act of civil resistance against the state’s policy of death. Ignoring its message risks a repetition of atrocities reminiscent of the mass executions of political prisoners in the 1980s.

Torture — both physical and psychological — remains widespread during arrest and interrogation. Methods include beatings, electric shocks, threats of sexual violence, sleep deprivation, and forced administration of psychoactive drugs aimed at physical and mental exhaustion. Deliberate denial of medical treatment and unhygienic conditions have led to the slow death of several detainees. Numerous suspicious deaths in custody indicate that the authorities are deliberately using medical neglect as a means of eliminating dissidents.

 

In this regard, we respectfully call upon the Third Committee to:

    1. Address and condemn the widespread executions and the hunger strike in Ghezel Hesar Prison as grave violations of the right to life and human dignity.
    2. Request the UN General Assembly to take note of the findings of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, and call upon the Human Rights Council to renew and strengthen its mandate, while requesting the Secretary-General to ensure the continued transmission of the Mission’s reports to the General Assembly.
    3. Support immediate, independent, and unhindered access for UN Special Rapporteurs and observers to Iranian detention facilities.
    4. Encourage Member States to impose targeted sanctions on officials responsible for grave human rights violations.
    5. Urge Member States and relevant UN bodies to press for an immediate halt to executions, an end to torture, and the release of political and religious prisoners.
    6. Call on OHCHR and UNVFVT to provide urgent psychological, social, and financial support to affected families.

Today, Iran stands at a critical moment in its modern history — a moment in which the right to life and human dignity is being systematically violated. Silence in the face of these abuses amounts to complicity in the perpetuation of impunity and repression.

With respect and hope for prompt and effective action,

October 28, 2025

The Undersigned

 

Statement of 21 organizations and networks opposed to the Islamic Republic on the occasion of October 10, the World Day Against the Death Penalty

The Islamic Republic’s killing machine must be stopped immediately

While the international community is preoccupied with preventing the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons, the regime deploys another deadly weapon on a daily basis: the death penalty.

According to figures from Iran Human Rights, in the first nine months of this year alone the regime has executed more than 1030 people. Such numbers are unprecedented in the past three decades. If this state-organised crime continues at the current pace, executions in Iran by year’s end will account for a large share of the world’s total.

The sharp escalation in executions—up more than 40 per cent since the twelve-day war with Israel—demands that no one remain silent in the face of these state crimes. Now is the time not only to block the regime from acquiring nuclear arms, but also to strip it of its other weapon of terror: execution.

On the occasion of 10 October, the World Day Against the Death Penalty, we call on the international community, international organisations, human rights groups, trade unions, and all progressive and popular forces worldwide to raise their voices louder and clearer against the wave of executions in Iran.

Today in Iran, a battle is underway in which the defence of the right to life and the struggle against executions are central. “Life” has been a core slogan of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement and it continues to be loudly proclaimed. On the third anniversary of the Mahsa revolution, one of society’s dominant discourses was the condemnation of executions and a demand for the trial of those responsible. Prisons have become hotbeds of the struggle against the death penalty; in daily protests, anti-execution slogans resonate; in cities such as Semirom and various cities in Kurdistan, people are going on general strikes to protest the implementation of death sentences. Labour and social organizations speak out openly and boldly against the death penalty. Graffiti bearing the names and photos of those sentenced to death is painted on walls across cities, displaying society’s determination to end this barbarity. An atmosphere of defiance and disgust toward the regime of executions, repression, and plunder is highly palpable in society.

These realities show that despite the surge in executions, the regime has failed to silence society. Each execution sparks not fear but a fresh wave of protest.

Stopping the Islamic Republic’s execution machine is now an urgent priority. The regime sees mass executions and repression as the only way to preserve its rotten rule, while the people of Iran, to defend their lives, see no alternative but to overthrow it. Disabling this machinery of death is achievable—if we can build powerful, united forces nationally and internationally against the criminal regime. Broad-based alliances inside and outside Iran against executions are vital.

The convening of a congress against the death penalty and for the release of political prisoners in Iran – with the participation of activists, human rights organisations, and representatives of political parties – will be an important step forward. Equally vital is broad support for prisoners’ hunger strikes against executions, and for the families of those facing death sentences.

Internationally, we demand more than words of condemnation. Effective action is needed. Diplomatic pressure must be intensified, and European governments must act in concert by recalling their ambassadors from Tehran in protest at executions and repression, and in solidarity with the Iranian people’s struggle. Targeted sanctions must be imposed on the “judges of death” and all officials and institutions directly involved in designing and carrying out execution policies.

On the World Day Against the Death Penalty, let us demonstrate, through united protests and diverse actions, that the people of Iran and the world together demand an immediate halt to executions in Iran and the complete abolition of this inhuman punishment.

September 30, 2025

International Committee Against Executions (ICAE)
Balochistan Human Rights Group
Free Vrishe Moradi Campaign
Free Human
Canadian Iranian Doctors for Human Rights
Network of Iranians for Liberty & Democracy
Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
Global Network to Free Political Prisoners in Iran
Global Campaign to Stop Execution in Iran
United Against Gender Apartheid
Iranian Medical Society for Human Rights and Democracy (Berlin Med)
Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran ( Free Them Now)
Kanoon-e Khavaran
International Independent Physicians and Healthcare Providers Association (IIPHA)
Alliance for women, life, freedom- stockholm
United to End Executions in Iran (UTEEIRAN)
Rojhalat Women Organization
Balochistan Cooperation Council
International Association of Iranian Legal and Political Advocate (IAILPA)
Women Revolution
Women Life Freedom Germany e. V.

Let’s Raise Our Voices Together!

We call on all Iranians, inside the country and across the globe, as well as political, artistic, academic, and athletic figures; human rights defenders; members of political parties and civil society institutions; women’s organizations; labor and professional unions; grassroots and civic groups; and everyone who stands in solidarity with the Iranian people to unite around two urgent and vital demands:

-The unconditional release of all political and ideological prisoners in Iran.

-The immediate halt to all executions and the complete abolition of the death penalty in Iran.

We hope this unified call will pave the way for broader cooperation and collective action toward the freedom and well-being of the people of Iran.

The list of signatories will be updated regularly. The “Let’s Raise Our Voices Together” initiative will be officially published on July 14.

A Global Call to Action Supporting “No to Executions” Tuesdays in Iran

May 17–۲۷, ۲۰۲۵

As negotiations with the United States continue, the Islamic Republic of Iran is unleashing a new wave of executions with bloodstained hands. In just one month, more than 110 people have been hanged. These atrocities are not isolated, they are part of a long-standing policy of repression and state violence aimed at maintaining a crumbling grip on power through fear and death.

To stop the Islamic Republic’s machinery of execution, we must rise in unified protest. We stand in solidarity with Dadkhahan (Justice Seekers), the “Don’t Execute” campaign, and families of death row prisoners, joining this nationwide and global uprising.

We call on all freedom-loving people to take part in this 10-day campaign, marking the anniversary of the execution of the young protesters from the Isfahan House. From May 17 to 27, through street demonstrations, public gatherings, or any form of peaceful protest, we demand the immediate halt of executions in Iran and the full abolition of this inhumane punishment.

This is the voice of prisoners who, every Tuesday from inside their cells, cry out through hunger strikes:

No to Executions.

1. Australian United Solidarity for Iran (Ausiran) 2. Bridges of Unity 3. Campaign to Free the Political Prisonersz in Iran (CFPPI) 4. Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran (Free Them Now) 5. Global Campaign to Stop Executions in Iran 6. Global Network for Woman Life Freedom 7. Global Network to Free Political Prisoners in Iran 8. Iran Human Rights (IHR) 9. International Committee Against Execution (ICAE) 10. Nika, Network of Iranians for Liberty and Democracy 11.The Independent Alliance for Free Iran (IAFIRAN) 12. United to End Executions in Iran (UTEEIRAN)

No to Executions TUesdays

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