The month of November 2025 witnessed a shocking surge in the Iranian regime’s use of capital punishment, reaching at least 336 executions—the highest monthly total in nearly four decades. Among those executed were nine women, and two prisoners were hanged in public, underscoring the regime’s continued reliance on public displays of violence to instill fear and maintain control. This staggering death toll reflects a deliberate policy of state violence, systematically enforced by Iran’s judiciary and security apparatus.
This unprecedented wave of executions took place amid a broader context of repression and crisis. The Iranian authorities appear to be responding to mounting internal and external pressures—economic collapse, social unrest, and international condemnation—by escalating punitive measures and silencing dissent. The death penalty has become a primary instrument of state repression, used not only against individuals convicted of criminal charges but also to punish and eliminate political opponents, members of ethnic and religious minorities, and individuals accused of affiliation with opposition groups such as the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
Many executions were carried out without transparency. In numerous cases, prisoners were denied access to lawyers, subjected to prolonged solitary confinement, torture, and forced confessions, and executed without their families being notified. Some were executed shortly after their sentences were upheld, while others were put to death despite serious health conditions or pending legal appeals. There are credible reports of detainees committing suicide or dying due to medical neglect and psychological pressure resulting from impending execution.
Of particular concern is the regime’s use of mass executions, where groups of 10 to 24 prisoners were hanged in a single day across multiple prisons.
In total, the wave of executions in November was not merely a judicial action, but part of a calculated strategy of state terror, designed to create a climate of fear and eliminate perceived threats to the regime’s grip on power. The scale and brutality of these acts call for immediate international intervention and accountability mechanisms to halt the regime’s execution machinery and protect the lives of those currently on death row.
Execution Statistics
The month of November 2025 witnessed an extraordinary escalation in the implementation of capital punishment in Iran. Reports confirm that at least 336 individuals were executed, making it the deadliest month in terms of executions in the past 37 years.
Key statistics include:
Total executions in November: At least 336
Executions of women: 9
Public executions: 2
Executions between November 9 and 12: 69, averaging more than 17 executions per day during this four-day period alone
Executions in five days (Nov 22-30): 56
Executions were reported in at least 35 cities across nearly every province in Iran, including but not limited to: Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, Yazd, Kermanshah, Ahvaz, Isfahan, Dezful, Urmia, Qazvin, Rasht, Semnan, Zanjan, and Yasuj.
Many of these executions were carried out in groups, with multiple prisoners hanged simultaneously—often in secrecy and without informing the families. In several instances, execution totals exceeded a dozen people per day in a single prison. The most egregious example occurred on Wednesday, November 26, when at least 24 prisoners were executed, including two women, in various prisons across the country. This marked one of the highest single-day execution counts of the month.
Notable Cases
Political Prisoners at Risk of Execution
Throughout November 2025, multiple political prisoners in Iran faced imminent execution, many following prolonged detention, torture, and deeply flawed legal proceedings. These cases exemplify the regime’s systematic use of the death penalty to eliminate dissent and punish individuals associated—often without clear evidence—with opposition groups, particularly the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The following cases reflect the urgent need for international attention and intervention:
Mehdi Vafaei-Sani, a 39-year-old political prisoner, was serving a six-year sentence in Evin Prison for alleged “propaganda against the state” and “communication with the PMOI/MEK.” In September, he was forcibly removed from prison under the false pretense of a family visit and transferred to the Intelligence Detention Center in Qom. Authorities are now fabricating new charges of moharebeh (waging war against God), a capital offense, in connection with his alleged efforts to protect other inmates during the Evin Prison fire in October 2022. These developments place him at serious risk of execution.
Reza Abdali, aged 35, currently held in Ward 8 of Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz, had his death sentence reaffirmed by the judiciary in November 2025. He was initially sentenced in July 2025 to death and 15 years in prison for alleged support of the PMOI. Following his arrest in February 2025, he was subjected to severe torture and coercive interrogations, and was denied access to a fair trial. Mr. Abdali belongs to the Daghaghaleh tribe in Ahvaz, part of Iran’s Arab minority, who are frequently targeted for political repression.
Ayoub Porkar, a 70-year-old former air force pilot from Tabriz, is in critical condition in Sheiban Prison due to internal infection and severe abdominal pain. Despite his deteriorating health, prison authorities have consistently denied him proper medical treatment, offering only painkillers. He was arrested in 2008 and initially sentenced to death for “enmity against God” due to alleged collaboration with the PMOI. Although the sentence was later commuted to 20 years in prison, he has endured 17 years of imprisonment without medical furlough or temporary leave, and remains under life-threatening conditions.
Farshad Etemadifar (30), Alireza Merdasi (52), and Masoud Jamei (48), political prisoners held in Sheiban Prison, had their death sentences upheld by the Supreme Court on November 14, 2025. The men were convicted of moharebeh, “assembly and collusion against national security,” and membership in the PMOI after enduring two years of torture and detention without due process. Farshad Etemadifar was previously imprisoned in 2018; Masoud Jamei, an oil company employee, suffers from cancer and other serious health conditions; and Alireza Mardasi is a teacher from the Arab community in Ahvaz. Their convictions by Branch One of the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court demonstrate the regime’s continued targeting of ethnic minorities and political dissidents through harsh, politicized judiciary proceedings.
These cases underscore the urgent and life-threatening conditions faced by political prisoners in Iran, particularly those accused of association with banned opposition groups.
Deaths Due to Prison Negligence
In addition to the alarming surge in executions, the month of November 2025 witnessed several cases in which prisoners died due to gross medical negligence, delayed treatment, or psychological trauma resulting from inhumane prison conditions. In many cases, prison authorities have failed to provide basic medical care, delayed emergency response, or subjected inmates to conditions that amount to psychological torture. The following are among the most egregious cases documented during this period:
Sahar Shahbazian, a 26-year-old female prisoner held in Fardis Prison in Karaj, suffered a cardiac arrest on November 11, 2025. According to credible reports, prison guards delayed her transfer to a medical facility, resulting in her death.
Aziz Abeiat, aged 56, a political prisoner of Arab ethnicity, died of a heart attack in Sepidar Prison in Ahvaz shortly after being informed that his death sentence had been upheld. The psychological impact of this news, compounded by years of imprisonment under harsh conditions, led to his immediate collapse. No emergency medical intervention was successful.
Amir Neisi, a 27-year-old Sunni prisoner, died in Sheiban Prison (Ahvaz) on November 18, after being held in detention for six years. Despite signs of serious medical distress, authorities delayed his transfer to a hospital, resulting in his death.
These deaths are not isolated incidents but are part of a broader pattern of state negligence and abuse in Iran’s prison system.
The “No to Executions Tuesdays” Campaign
Throughout November 2025, Iran’s growing civil resistance to state violence found powerful expression in the continuation and expansion of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign. Now in its 96th consecutive weeks, this movement—launched in January 2024 by political prisoners—has transformed into a nationwide campaign of nonviolent defiance against the regime’s systematic use of capital punishment.
In a powerful display of coordination and solidarity, prisoners in 55 prisons across Iran—including both men’s and women’s facilities—participated in hunger strikes and weekly protest declarations denouncing the state’s accelerating execution spree. In a significant development, Birjand Central Prison joined the campaign for the first time in late November, adding to the growing list of facilities involved.
According to the campaign’s latest statement, over 1,470 executions have been carried out in Iran since the beginning of the current Persian calendar year (March 2025). Of these, 311 executions occurred during the month of Aban (October 23 – November 21), marking the highest monthly total in nearly four decades. The participants described this wave as a continuation of the state’s “machinery of death” and likened it to the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.
Among those condemned was Mohammad Mehdi Soleimani, a young detainee arrested during the 2022 nationwide uprising. His recent death sentence was singled out in the campaign’s statement as an example of a broader pattern of politically motivated prosecutions and unjust judicial procedures aimed at silencing dissent.
The prisoners’ statement also emphasized that the regime’s execution policy is not an anomaly, but a systematic and deliberate tool of repression. They declared the judiciary a political instrument devoid of independence or legitimacy and condemned public executions as “medieval tactics of terror.” The campaign has emerged as a weekly act of collective resistance that, in the prisoners’ words, is “a refusal to be silenced by the noose.”
International Condemnation
On November 19, 2025, the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly adopted its 72nd resolution condemning the gross and systematic violations of human rights by the Iranian regime.
The resolution directly addressed the sharp and unprecedented rise in executions across the country, with specific concern over the execution of women, juvenile offenders, and political prisoners. It condemned the Iranian authorities’ use of the death penalty as a means to silence dissent, intimidate the public, and suppress peaceful protest movements, particularly in the aftermath of nationwide uprisings and ongoing civil unrest since 2022.
Beyond the issue of executions, the resolution expressed grave concern over a range of persistent and structural human rights abuses, including:
The regime’s lack of accountability for widespread and long-standing state crimes, including the failure to investigate or prosecute those responsible for unlawful killings and torture;
Ongoing enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions, which continue to target political activists, ethnic and religious minorities, and family members of victims of past atrocities;
The use of state-controlled media to incite discrimination, hostility, and violence, contributing to a culture of hate that has fueled acts of mass repression;
The enduring impunity of regime officials for historic crimes, particularly the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, which was highlighted as a symbol of the regime’s continued refusal to acknowledge or investigate past atrocities.
Conclusion
The data from November 2025 presents an extremely dire picture of Iran’s human rights landscape, with the regime executing nearly one person every two hours during the most intense periods. These executions, often carried out en masse and in secrecy, constitute a grave breach of international human rights standards.
Iran Human Rights Monitor calls upon:
- The United Nations, European Union, and human rights organizations to take urgent and concrete action to halt executions in Iran.
- The UN Human Rights Council to send a fact-finding mission to investigate Iran’s use of the death penalty.
- The international community to refer Iran’s human rights file to the UN Security Council and to hold the regime accountable for crimes against humanity.
Without international pressure, the Iranian authorities will continue to use the death penalty as an instrument of political terror and social control.
