Surge in Executions: 129 Documented Cases, Including Political Prisoners, Women, and Juveniles
The Islamic Republic of Iran continued its systematic and widespread use of the death penalty in April 2025, with at least 129 executions recorded across the country. This figure marks a sharp escalation in state violence, reinforcing patterns of political suppression, ethnic targeting, and the execution of vulnerable groups including women and juveniles.
Execution of Political Prisoners
At least seven political prisoners were executed during the month, and several more remain at imminent risk. These executions underscore the regime’s continued use of capital punishment as a tool of political repression, often in blatant violation of international legal standards.
On April 8, 2025, five Sunni political prisoners—Farhad Shakeri, Abdolhakim Gorgij, Abdolrahman Gorgij, Taj Mohammad Khormali, and Malek Ali Fadaei—were executed in Vakilabad Prison, Mashhad.
Despite international appeals, their death sentences were upheld in August 2024, and the executions were carried out without advance notice or final family visits.
On April 21, 2025, Hamid Hosseinnezhad Heydaranlou, a Kurdish political prisoner, was executed in Urmia Prison.
On April 26, 2025, Rostam Zeinoddini, a Baluch political prisoner and reported member of Jaish al-Adl, was hanged in Zahedan Prison.
Execution of Mohsen Langar-Neshin in Qezel-Hesar
On April 30, 2025, Mohsen Langar-Neshin, 34, was executed in Qezel-Hesar Prison. He had been accused of espionage and involvement in the assassination of Sayyad Khodaei, a Quds Force commander, in alleged collaboration with Israel. The secrecy surrounding the case and the nature of the charges point to the politically motivated nature of his execution.
Political Prisoners at Imminent Risk
In addition to those executed, several political prisoners faced immediate danger of execution in April:
Five PMOI (People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran) supporters—Vahid Bani Amerian, Seyed Mohammad Taghavi, Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghobadi, and Shahrokh Daneshvarkar—were forcibly transferred from Evin Prison to Qezel Hesar, a primary execution site, under direct orders from Judge Iman Afshari.
Three other political prisoners, Behrouz Ehsani Eslamlou, Mehdi Hassani, and Seyed Abolhassan Montazer, were transferred earlier under similar circumstances.
Meanwhile, four Baluch political prisoners, including Soleiman Shahbakhsh (allegedly only 12 years old at the time of the offense), Abdolrahim Ghanbarzehi Gorgij, Eidou Shahbakhsh, and Abdolghani Shahbakhsh, had their requests for retrial denied, further increasing the likelihood of their executions.
Execution of Women
At least six women were executed in Iran during April 2025, continuing a disturbing trend in the regime’s use of capital punishment against female prisoners, including those from marginalized backgrounds. These executions often occur without public notification, transparency, or legal safeguards, violating both international human rights standards and Iran’s own domestic laws.
Documented Cases of Executed Women
On April 8, 2025, three unnamed women were among the ten prisoners executed in Vakilabad Prison, Mashhad. They were executed alongside five political prisoners and two male inmates. No official charges or details were released regarding their identities or the circumstances of their convictions.
On April 15, 2025, Marziyeh Esmaeili was executed in Qazvin Prison. No additional information about her case has been disclosed, raising concerns about possible violations of due process and the use of closed-door trials.
On April 28, 2025, Marjan Sabzi was executed in Dastgerd Prison, Isfahan. She was one of seven individuals executed that day in a coordinated mass execution. Again, authorities did not release further details about the charges or legal proceedings related to her case.
At least one additional female prisoner was executed earlier in the month, based on Iran HRM’s count of six women executed in April, but no details were publicly released, underscoring the regime’s practice of unannounced executions.
Juvenile Executions
The Iranian regime continued to violate international human rights law in April 2025 by executing individuals convicted of crimes committed as minors. At least two juvenile offenders were among those executed this month, in direct contravention of Iran’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), both of which explicitly prohibit the execution of individuals for offenses committed under the age of 18.
Documented Cases:
Mehdi Motavali: Executed on April 15, 2025, in Arak Prison. He was reportedly under 18 years old at the time of the alleged crime.
The circumstances of his trial and the charges remain unclear, but no information was provided about a fair legal process, access to legal representation, or the opportunity for appeal.
Behzad (last name not reported): Executed on April 9, 2025, in Gonbad-e Kavus Prison
At the time of execution, he was 20 years old, but reports indicate he was under 18 when the alleged crime occurred.
The lack of detail regarding his legal proceedings and the failure to consider his juvenile status at sentencing raise serious legal and ethical concerns.
Ongoing Risk: Soleiman Shahbakhsh
In addition to the executed juveniles, Soleiman Shahbakhsh, a Baluch prisoner, remains at imminent risk of execution. He was allegedly only 12 years old at the time of the alleged offense. His death sentence, along with those of his three co-defendants (Abdolrahim Ghanbarzehi Gorgij, Eidou Shahbakhsh, and Abdolghani Shahbakhsh), was upheld by the Supreme Court, and their requests for retrial were denied in April.
Executions of Ethnic Minorities
Throughout April 2025, the Iranian regime intensified its systematic execution of ethnic minorities, with a significant focus on Baluch and Kurdish prisoners. These groups remain disproportionately targeted in Iran’s capital punishment system, reflecting longstanding patterns of ethnic discrimination, denial of due process, and suppression of political dissent.
Baluch Minority:
Baluch prisoners accounted for a notably high proportion of executions in April. At least 30 executions of Baluch individuals were reported, highlighting targeted persecution against this ethnic group. Several cases are particularly alarming:
Rostam Zeinoddini, a Baluch political prisoner and alleged member of the armed group Jaish al-Adl, was executed on April 26 in Zahedan. He had been subjected to torture during pre-trial detention following his arrest in 2023.
On the same day, three Baluch prisoners—Abdol-Samad Gorgij and two brothers, Abdol-Ghaffar and Noor-al-Din Lojeh’i—were executed in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad.
During the week of April 9–15, at least 17 Baluch prisoners were executed across various cities, including Kerman, Zahedan, and Karaj. These included:
Abubakr Shahbakhsh, 36, and Rahim Rahimnejad in Kerman
Ali Baluchzehi, Ali Dahani (22), and Rouhollah Moradian in Zahedan (April 14)
Sa’dollah Gorgij, 29, executed in Zahedan on April 20
On April 9, Esmail Dahmardeh, identified as a Baluch prisoner, was executed in Gonabad, along with several others.
Kurdish Minority:
Hamid Hosseinnezhad Heydaranlou, a Kurdish political prisoner, was executed on April 21 in Urmia Prison. His family had publicly protested for days prior to his execution, indicating a lack of transparency and absence of final visitation rights.
Additional Kurdish prisoners may have been among those executed in cities like Kermanshah and Sanandaj, but names and ethnicities were not always disclosed in official announcements.
High Frequency and Scope of Executions
Executions were carried out nearly every day in April, with alarming clusters:
April 9: At least 15 executions across 8 cities.
April 21–23: At least 22 executions in 3 days.
April 28: Seven prisoners, including a woman, were executed in Isfahan and Ahvaz.
April 30: Four executions, including Mohsen Langar-Neshin, accused of collaboration with Israel, were carried out in Qezelhessar and Mashhad prisons.
Threats Against Other Political Prisoners
In addition to the executions of several political prisoners, April 2025 saw heightened threats of execution and increased pressure on numerous other political detainees in Iran. The authorities continued to use sudden transfers, isolation, rejection of retrials, and secretive judicial procedures to create an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty among prisoners and their families.
On April 16, 2025, five political prisoners affiliated with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) were transferred from Evin Prison to Qezel Hesar Prison, a known site for carrying out executions. The individuals transferred were:
Vahid Bani Amerian, Seyed Mohammad Taghavi, Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghobadi, and Shahrokh Daneshvarkar
These prisoners were sentenced to death in December 2024 by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
The secretive and coercive nature of this transfer, coupled with Qezel Hesar’s role as an execution site, strongly suggests that these prisoners are at imminent risk of execution.
Three other political prisoners—Behrouz Ehsani Eslamlou, Mehdi Hassani, and Seyed Abolhassan Montazer—had also been transferred from Evin to Qezel Hesar in January and early April 2025, under similarly opaque circumstances. All were sentenced to death on comparable charges.
Four Baluch political prisoners also faced grave threats in April following the rejection of their retrial requests: Abdolrahim Ghanbarzehi Gorgij, Eidou Shahbakhsh, Abdolghani Shahbakhsh, and Soleiman Shahbakhsh (reportedly 12 years old at the time of the alleged offense)
Militarization of Education
In a troubling development reflective of the Iranian regime’s deepening authoritarian control over civil society, the Ministry of Education signed a formal memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State Security Force (SSF) on April 20, 2025, to integrate repressive security measures into the national education system. This move constitutes a direct militarization of schools and universities, placing students and teachers under increasing surveillance and pressure.
The MoU, signed by Minister of Education Alireza Kazemi and SSF Commander Brigadier General Ahmadreza Radan, outlines extensive cooperation between educational authorities and security forces. Among the key components:
Security force presence in schools under the guise of “prevention of social harms”
Collaboration in textbook development, allowing police input into educational content
Integration of police operations (cyber police, anti-narcotics, criminal investigation, etc.) into student and teacher activities
Implementation of surveillance programs under the “student social protection system”
Enforcement of judicial rulings against students and teachers outside school premises
The agreement was publicly endorsed by both sides. Minister Kazemi declared:
“The Ministry of Education is entirely at your disposal… In every domain, I consider myself a soldier of Commander Radan.”
Brigadier General Radan emphasized the perceived threat posed by students, stating:
“The enemy may have realized better than I have that the most influential demographic in Iranian society is the student.”
The stated objectives of the agreement—such as promoting “security” and “discipline”—serve as cover for a broader strategy of political suppression and ideological control.
Such developments follow repeated protests by students over the past two years and the regime’s growing fear of youth-led opposition movements.
“No to Executions Tuesdays” Campaign Gains Momentum in April
The “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, a growing resistance movement against the death penalty in Iran, continued its powerful momentum throughout April 2025. Every Tuesday, prisoners across the country engaged in coordinated hunger strikes to protest the regime’s widespread use of capital punishment. By the end of the month, prisoners in 41 prisons had joined the campaign. On April 29, Sanandaj Prison became the latest to declare its participation, following earlier endorsements from facilities in Behbahan, Zahedan, and Azbaram Lahijan. The campaign, which began, in Qezel Hesar Prison in reaction to the executions of political prisoners Mohammad Ghobadlou and Farhad Salimi, has since evolved into one of the largest organized acts of defiance within Iran’s penal system. Despite facing intensified repression, the movement persists in its weekly fasts, collective statements, and calls for the abolition of the death penalty in all forms. The campaign asserts that capital punishment is an inhumane and irreversible practice that must be ended, regardless of the charges involved. As executions increase, so too has the resolve of those behind bars, making this campaign a vital symbol of resistance and a powerful voice against judicial injustice in the Islamic Republic.
Conclusion
April 2025 witnessed an alarming escalation in state-sponsored executions and suppression across Iran. The systematic targeting of political prisoners, ethnic minorities, juveniles, and women, alongside the militarization of education, underscores a deepening human rights crisis. Iran HRM calls on the international community, UN bodies, and human rights organizations to intensify pressure on the Iranian regime to halt executions, uphold international legal obligations, and protect vulnerable populations.
