Iran’s bloodiest year in 2024 after regime carried out execution EVERY 150MINS as it lashed out over Israeli defeats
IRAN is slaughtering its own people in “unprecedented numbers” with executions taking place every couple of hours as the “paranoid” regime lashes out in the wake of defeats against its proxies to Israel.
A swathe of shocking evidence – including official figures and letters from death row prisoners – gathered by The Sun exposes that Iran’s killing machine is responsible for over three quarters of the entire world’s executions.
Official records show that the number of executions last year reached 1,000 – the highest number in 30 years and 16 percent higher than last year.
Iranian resistance group the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) warns that the real number is “significantly higher”, however, considering the regime’s use of secret executions.
On New Year’s Day alone, at least 12 people were hanged in prisons across the country.
The grim toll includes women, children and political prisoners – often sentenced to death without any regard to a fair trial or due process.
‘SIGN OF WEAKNESS’
Behzad Naziri, a former political prisoner of the regime, who managed to escape from one of Iran’s most notorious prisons, has told The Sun how the “unprecedented surge” in executions is a “sign of the weakness of a regime on the verge of being overthrown”.
Naziri, a member of the NCRI’s foreign committee, whose own sister was executed, said: “The unprecedented number of executions indicates that the regime is indeed becoming increasingly
paranoid.
“These actions are a desperate attempt by Khamenei to suppress any dissent and maintain control amid growing unrest and demands for regime change.
“We must bear in mind that this regime has kept its grip on
power through repression and executions at home, and terrorism and warmongering abroad, mainly through its proxies.
“Being the world’s record holder for the number of executions per capita is not a sign of strength; it indicates a failure to quell dissent despite its brutal behavior.
“The regime must be ostracized by the international community, and any dealings with it should be conditioned on halting executions and torture. Its leaders must be held accountable before justice.”
NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi
“Therefore, the unprecedented surge in executions, like with all dictators, shows that this regime is also on its last leg and sees no future for its rule in the face of growing opposition.
“The inhumane murder of its populace under any pretext is only a sign of the weakness of a regime on the verge of being overthrown.”
Of the 1,000 executed in 2024, 34 were women and seven were under 18 at the time of their crime.
MEDIEVAL PUNISHMENTS
More than half were sentenced for drug-related crimes despite, according to the NCRI, the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) controlling all the major drug trafficking operations in Iran worth billions of dollars.
As well as the surging numbers of executions, torture, prisoners are subject to other medieval-style punishments such as public flogging, limb-removal and eye-gouging.
One prisoner from the 2017 uprising was sentenced to have his eyes gouged for allegedly blinding a State Security Force officer by throwing a stone, while two brothers had their fingers amputated in Urmia Prison and two other prisoners had their fingers severed in Qom Prison, according to the NCRI report.
While many of the heinous punishments go unreported, Naziri cites the example of two men in the Qom province, who state media reported were sentenced to have their hands chopped off for alleged theft.
“This brutal punishment was carried out while the leaders of the regime and the commanders of the Revolutionary Guard are the biggest thieves in Iran’s history, embezzling billions of dollars
of people’s assets or wasting them on projects related to repression, nuclear activities, warmongering, and sponsoring terrorism to preserve the regime,” he said.
“The inhumane murder of its populace under any pretext is only a sign of the weakness of a regime on the verge of being overthrown.
Behzad Naziri, former political prisoner
The NCRI say that the pattern of executions across 2024 is directly tied to the regime’s political developments, crises and defeats – with 47 percent of prisoners hanged during the last quarter of the year as the regime and its terror proxies faced severe defeats in the region against Israel including the defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Some 695 of the 1,000 executions, took place after late July, under president Massoud Pezeshkian, who has previously defended his track record of executions saying: “Those who talk about human rights ask why we execute murderers.”
Naziri, a former journalist who was arrested in 1982 after his painter and musician sister Giti Naziri was executed, believes matters will only worsen in Iran 2025 as the regime fears it will face the same fate as Bashar Al Assad’s ousted dictatorship in Syria.
Naziri was subject to horrendous torture for three years in two of Iran’s most notorious prisons Evin and Qazal Hesar, before finding a rare opportunity to escape only for his father to be held hostage in his place for five years.
He said: “The Iranian dictatorship’s main challenge has always been the war against its outraged people demanding the overthrow of the ruling theocracy for the past four decades.
“The mullahs’ regime has suffered serious setback home in 2024 such as the nationwide boycott of the election and growing activities by Resistance Units in Iran.”
WARMONGERING ABROAD
“The other aspect of the survival strategy has been creating crises outside its borders,” Naziri added.
“The destructive Iran-Iraq War in the ’80s and, more recently, instigating conflict in the Middle East are just two examples.
“Actually, following the massive 2022 anti-regime uprising that shook the regime to the core, Khamenei initiated the war in the region.
“But the regime has been the biggest strategic loser of the conflict evident in defeat of Hezbollah, and more importantly the downfall of Assad’s dictatorship. This has provided impetus to more resistance and caused significant defection among the ranks of the regime.
“These medieval crimes, however, double the resolve of Iran’s youth to topple the religious dictatorship
Behzad Naziri, former political prisoner
“Hence the regime’s increasing brutality is a reflection of its frustrations stemming from the fear of facing the same fate as Assad’s dictatorship.”
Naziri says the horrific punishments measures are generally used to “intimidate” the public – adding that often people are sentenced without a fair trial saying “the evidence points to a complete disregard for due process.”
But he added that the increase in executions has “failed to stop the surge in the dissent” and has actually had the reverse impact especially among women and the younger generation.
“These medieval crimes, however, double the resolve of Iran’s youth to topple the religious dictatorship,” he added.
HUNGER STRIKES
Political prisoners in 30 prisons in Iran have been going on hunger strike every Tuesday for a year in protest at the executions as part of the “No to Execution Tuesdays”.
The Sun was given a moving recording of brave women at Evin prison, who despite facing torture, last month chanted and sang moving protest songs demanding that death sentences be banned and vowing to “fight to the last stand”.
Naziri and the NCRI have now called for the US and UK to hold Iran to account for its crimes.
“The West must recognize the severe human rights abuses occurring in Iran and the urgent need for a strong international response,” he said.
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
“The other side of this savagery at home is belligerence and terrorism abroad…
“Its leaders must be brought to justice for 45 years of crimes against humanity and genocide.
“We therefore urge the new administrations in the UK and U.S. to condition any dealings with the Iranian regime on an immediate halt to executions and torture.
“It is essential to hold the regime accountable for its crimes
against humanity and to support the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom and democracy.”
The NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi said: “Khamenei resorts to these executions to suppress the people’s uprising demanding the regime’s overthrow.
“However, these atrocities only strengthen the determination of Iran’s youth to overthrow the religious dictatorship.
“The regime must be ostracized by the international community, and any dealings with it should be conditioned on halting executions and torture. Its leaders must be held accountable before justice.”