‘Barbarism and brutality’: Iran executed stunning, unprecedented number of people in 2024

According to the Iranian opposition group the National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI, the number of recorded executions in 2024 has reached 1,000 prisoners, including 34 women and 7 minors. While this figure is unprecedented in the past 30 years, the actual number is likely much higher due to secret executions.

Executions in Iran during 2024 increased by 16% compared to the 864 executions recorded in 2023. According to Amnesty International, 74% of all recorded executions worldwide in 2023 took place in Iran.

Execution as a tool of official repression

The NCRI statement indicates that the rise in executions in 2024 is directly linked to the regime’s crises and failures. Eleven percent of the executions occurred in the first quarter and 17% in the second quarter of the year, periods during which the regime was preparing for two elections: parliamentary elections in February and presidential elections in June.

Twenty-five percent of the executions were carried out in the third quarter.

However, in the fourth quarter, amidst the regime’s crushing failures in the region and the emergence of severe economic and social crises, the pace of executions accelerated to unprecedented levels. Nearly 47% of the prisoners executed in 2024 were hanged during this period.

Commenting on this, Maryam Rajavi, leader of the Iranian opposition and president-elect of the NCRI, called for all negotiations and deals with the regime to be conditioned on halting executions and torture. She stated: “The wave of barbaric executions in 2024, particularly in the past autumn, is (the regime’s supreme leader Ali) Khamenei’s desperate attempt to prevent the uprisings of an angry population that will settle for nothing less than the complete overthrow of this regime.”

695 executions under Pezeshkian’s presidency

Some 695 executions, almost 70% of the annual total, have taken place since July 30, when Massoud Pezeshkian assumed the presidency.

In an Oct. 8 speech, Pezeshkian cynically defended these brutal executions, stating: “Those who speak of human rights wonder why you execute a murderer.”

Increase in executions of women

Among those executed, 34 were women, and seven were minors who had been convicted of crimes allegedly committed before the age of 18. The average age of the 491 identified victims was 36 years.

Among the executed were 119 Baluch prisoners, members of an impoverished and oppressed ethnic minority. This group was disproportionately targeted compared to the population of other provinces and regions in the country.

Additionally, four public executions were carried out in especially brutal ways to instill fear within the society.

The pretext of drug-related crimes

More than half of the victims (502 prisoners) were executed on drug-related charges. However, following the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, it was revealed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, controlled massive drug-trafficking networks in Syria generating tens of billions of dollars in revenue across the region and the world. Only a fraction of these activities has been exposed.

Amputations and social injustice

Another shocking act of cruelty consists of chopping off fingers of thieves. Fingers of two brothers imprisoned in Oroumieh and those of two other prisoners in Qom were thus amputated. Meanwhile, billion-dollar embezzlements by regime leaders and their affiliated networks have become routine, with no arrests or punishments for those responsible.

The only so-called “progress” in human rights reported in the past year was the judiciary’s announcement, according to the official website “Asr-e Iran,” that anesthesia is now permitted before amputating the limbs of convicted thieves.

Tuesday’s campaign: No to the death penalty

For 49 weeks, a campaign titled “No to the Death Penalty” has been held every Tuesday – the day when most executions take place.

This campaign has garnered significant support among detainees: Prisoners from 28 prisons are participating by going on hunger strikes.

Internationally, more than 250 British parliamentarians from both houses of Parliament, representing all major political parties, have expressed their support for the campaign. They have strongly condemned the unprecedented rise in executions in Iran and called for their immediate cessation.

Utmost barbarity: Stoning to death

In its latest statement, the “No to the Death Penalty” movement denounced another atrocity: Several female prisoners in Qarchak Prison were sentenced to stoning to death on charges of extramarital relationships. Even in the best-case scenario, these sentences might be commuted to execution by hanging.

The statement concluded: “We firmly believe that silence in the face of such atrocities amounts to complicity. It is essential to stand against such barbarism and brutality.”

The year 2024 marked a grim turning point in the Iranian regime’s repression. Far from being a measure of justice, executions are being weaponized as a political tool to sustain a regime in existential crisis. In this context, the courage of Iranian prisoners, activists and the global movement for the abolition of the death penalty serves as a powerful reminder: The fight for human rights and justice cannot be silenced.