Summary
Iran is on the brink of another state-orchestrated massacre.
The Islamic Republic has intensified its use of the death penalty to silence dissent and instill fear across society. Since early 2025, Iran HRM has documented over 1,200 executions – including political prisoners, protesters, and ordinary citizens convicted after grossly unfair trials.
Among them, 17 political prisoners affiliated with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) face imminent execution following unfair trials and years of torture. Meanwhile, more than 1,500 prisoners in Qezel Hesar Prison are on hunger strike protesting mass executions and chanting “No to Executions” in defiance of the regime’s killing spree.
These alarming developments echo the pattern that preceded the 1988 mass killings of political prisoners, when up to 30,000 political prisoners, mostly MEK supporters were executed in a matter of weeks following summary trials.
Today, amid a surge in executions, hate-filled rhetoric from state media, and the systematic destruction of mass graves in places like Behesht Zahra Cemetery, Iran is showing every sign of preparing for another atrocity. The Fars News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, has even published articles glorifying the 1988 massacre as a “successful historical experience” that should be “repeated.”
If the international community remains silent, a new wave of mass executions could unfold within Iran’s prisons—one that the regime seeks to carry out under the cover of silence and erasure.
Background
Rising Executions Under President Pezeshkian
Since President Masoud Pezeshkian took office in 2024, Iran has witnessed a sharp rise in executions. Over 1,276 people have been executed in 2025 alone.
This surge coincides with the June 2025 ceasefire that ended the 12-day Iran–Israel war. Much like in 1988—when mass executions followed the end of the Iran–Iraq war—the regime appears to be turning its repressive machinery inward.
Targeting of Political Prisoners Affiliated with the MEK
At least 17 MEK-affiliated political prisoners are now on death row across Iran.
On July 12, 2025, opposition activists Farshad Etemadi-Far, Masoud Jamei, and Alireza Mardasi were sentenced to death by Branch 1 of the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court on charges of moharebeh (“waging war on God”).
The next day, the Supreme Court rejected the final judicial review requests for Behrouz Ehsani (69) and Mehdi Hassani (48), leaving them at imminent risk of execution. Both were subsequently executed on July 27, 2025.
On September 8, 2025 and September 27, 2025, Pejman Toubrehrizi, Nima Shahi, and Hamed Validi were also sentenced to death under similar charges, following prolonged detention and torture.
On July 17, political prisoner Saeed Masouri, a leading figure in the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, smuggled out a letter from Qezel Hesar Prison warning that his transfer to Zahedan Prison was “a prelude to executing death row prisoners.” He wrote:
“Just as in 1988, a crime is in progress.”
The Hunger Strike in Qezel Hesar Prison
On October 12, 2025, around 1,500 death-row prisoners in Qezel Hesar Prison began a mass hunger strike against the regime’s “execution machine.”
- Over 30 executions occurred within the first three days.
- Prisoners chanted “No to executions!” and appealed for global solidarity.
- The regime responded with intimidation, solitary confinement, and denial of medical care. (Iran HRM, October 2025)
This is the largest known collective protest inside Iranian prisons in recent years, highlighting both desperation and courage among those condemned to die.
Video message from inside Qezel Hesar Prison, sent yesterday on the second day of hunger strike.
We urge @UN, @antonioguterres, @volker_turk, and @drmaisato to take concrete action to #StopExecutionsInIran and invoke universal jurisdiction to hold the regime accountable. pic.twitter.com/BnpMMqiiHs— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) October 15, 2025
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State Propaganda and Rhetoric Encouraging Violence
On July 7, 2025, the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency published an editorial titled “Why the 1988 Executions Should Be Repeated”, glorifying that massacre as a “successful historical experience” and calling for similar action against today’s dissidents.
(Fars News, July 2025)
This open advocacy for mass execution underscores the regime’s intent and state endorsement of extrajudicial killings.
Destruction of Mass Graves and Erasure of Evidence
In August 2025, authorities destroyed Section 41 of Behesht Zahra Cemetery—one of the mass burial sites of 1988 victims—repurposing it as a parking lot. (Iran HRM, August 2025)
Satellite imagery confirmed the bulldozing and construction, and families of victims were barred from visiting. (AP News, August 2025)
Human rights groups, including Amnesty International condemned the move as “evidence destruction”—an attempt to erase traces of crimes against humanity.
Parallels with the 1988 Massacre
| 1988 | 2025 |
| Ceasefire after Iran–Iraq war | Ceasefire after Iran–Israel war |
| Fatwa ordering execution of political prisoners | Fars News advocating repetition of executions |
| Secret “death commissions” | Revolutionary Courts issuing mass death sentences |
| Targeting MEK members | Targeting MEK-affiliated prisoners |
| Concealment of graves | Bulldozing Behesht Zahra and Khavaran graves |
In both periods, the regime used “national security” as pretext to eliminate political opposition. The same rhetoric, same targets, and same secrecy persist today.
As ten UN Special Rapporteurs warned on July 4, 2025, the post-war crackdown “echoes the 1988 atrocities” and may constitute “ongoing crimes against humanity.”
(OHCHR, July 2025)
Iran HRM’s Call to Action
Iran Human Rights Monitor urgently calls on the United Nations, European Union, and all democratic governments to take immediate action to stop the looming massacre in Iran.
- Immediate intervention by UN mechanisms:
- The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran (FFMI) must urgently investigate the cases of the 17 MEK-affiliated political prisoners on death row and the situation of over 1,500 prisoners on hunger strike in Qezel Hesar Prison as part of a broader pattern of state-sanctioned crimes against humanity and evidence of ongoing persecution of political dissidents.
- The UN Special Rapporteur on Iran should initiate a joint communication with other UN mandate holders—including on arbitrary detention, torture, and summary executions—to address the imminent risk of mass killings.
- Public condemnation and accountability:
- The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Secretary-General must publicly denounce the surge in executions and rhetoric advocating mass killings.
- Iran’s systematic destruction of mass graves should be investigated as evidence tampering and obstruction of justice.
- Diplomatic and policy measures:
- Governments should condition relations with Tehran on halting executions and cooperating with international investigations.
- UN Member states should raise these urgent human rights violations, including threats to repeat the 1988 massacre, during the debate on Iran at the UN General Assembly Third Committee on 30 October, calling for accountability, transparency, and protection of prisoners at risk of execution.
- Targeted sanctions should be imposed on Iran’s governmental, judicial, intelligence, and prison officials responsible for ordering or carrying out executions and covering up evidence of past crimes.
- Mobilization of civil society and media:
- Human rights organizations, journalists, and activists should amplify the plight of prisoners under threat. To sign the current statement, No to executions. No to impunity for the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre, please email: [email protected]
- Use the global hashtag #StopExecutionsInIran #SOS1500DeathRowInIran to demand accountability and solidarity with Iranian prisoners.
Conclusion
The hunger strike of 1,500 prisoners, the 17 political prisoners on death row, and the erasure of mass graves are unmistakable warning signs. The Iranian regime is preparing for another silent massacre under the cover of judicial normalcy.
Silence now will be complicity later.
The international community must act before the executions begin anew.
Stop Executions in Iran.
