ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations’s human rights body on Tuesday slammed Iran for the rise in the number of executions in the country last year, which reached over 900.
“At least 901 people were reportedly executed there in 2024, including 40 in one week alone in December. More than 853 people were executed in 2023,” UN’s Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said.
In condemnation of the executions, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said that he was “deeply troubled” by the surge in executions in the country.
"We oppose the death penalty under all circumstances...It is incompatible with the fundamental right to life and raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people," Turk was cited as saying by a UN news briefing, adding “It is high time Iran stemmed this ever-swelling tide of executions.”
Most of the executed were drug-related offenders and people involved with the 2022 protests which were sparked by the death of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini. An estimated 31 of the executed were women who were victims of domestic violence, child marriage, or forced marriage, according to the OHCHR.
“It is incompatible with the fundamental right to life and raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people. And, to be clear, it can never be imposed for conduct that is protected under international human rights law,” said the high commissioner.
He urged the Iranian authorities to halt all further executions and to place a moratorium on the use of the death penalty to ultimately abolish it.
Iran began 2025 by executing ten people in a prison north of Tehran, a human rights watchdog reported on Friday.
Iran executed at least 31 women last year, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said on Monday.
