ARTICLE 19 condemns the recent surge in executions across Iran. In June alone, 109 individuals, including three women, were executed – a 10% increase from the same time last year. Since the outbreak of conflict with Israel and the United States, more than 50 individuals have reportedly been executed on charges related to the January protests, raising serious concerns that the regime is exploiting the conflict to justify executions and spread fear among the Iranian population, and that the death penalty is being used as a tool of political repression.
Alarmingly, out of the 109 executions carried out in June, only 7 have been officially announced, likely obscuring the true scale of the authorities’ use of the death penalty. In at least 12 cases, families were not informed prior to the execution, denying them the opportunity for a final visit.
At least five individuals were executed last month on political charges, including espionage, following their detainment during the January protests. Three men, Ashkan Maleki, Mehrdad Mohammadinya, and Arman Ma’refati, were tried in a joint case, charged with Moharebeh (enmity against God), and were sentenced to death. Human rights organisations report that security forces used torture to elicit the confessions upon which sentences were determined, and the individuals were prevented from appointing their own legal counsel. Ashkan Maleki and Mehrdad Mohammadinya were executed on June 1 in Karaj, while the current status of Arman Ma’refati is unknown.
Ahad Shokouhian, a flower market worker in Tehran, received three death sentences on 23 July for his participation in the demonstrations. These charges were handed down despite Shokouhian being only one of several defendants in the case, and after an official forensic medial report indicated that his severe asthma would have prevented him from performing the actions claimed by security forces.
The escalating use of executions reflects the Iranian authorities’ broader efforts to silence dissent through arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, coerced confessions, and unfair trials. The recent directive issued by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence under Article 4 of the Law on Intensifying Punishment for Espionage and Cooperation with the Zionist Regime and Hostile States, significantly expanded the scope for imposing severe punishments, including the death penalty, on individuals accused of vaguely defined national security offences – heightening our concerns.
Earlier this year, Iran’s Head of the Judiciary issued a directive to fast-track capital punishment cases linked to national security issues and the protests. Such measures increase the risk of arbitrary prosecutions, politically motivated convictions, and executions, following proceedings that fail to comply with Iran’s obligations under international human rights law.
ARTICLE 19 calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately halt public executions, establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, and ensure that all detainees are afforded due process guarantees, including access to legal counsel and protection from torture and other ill-treatment. All prisoners detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression must be released.
We further call on the international community, including the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, and governments, to publicly condemn the escalating use of the death penalty, press for accountability for violations of international law, and ensure that human rights remain central to all diplomatic engagement with the Islamic Republic of Iran.