PARIS — Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, the highest number since 1989, two NGOs said Monday, warning it risked using capital punishment even more extensively after protests in January and the war against Israel and the US.

The number of executions represented an increase of 68 percent on the 975 people Iran put to death in 2024, and also included 48 women who were hanged, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said in their joint annual report.

If the Islamic Republic “survives the current crisis, there is a serious risk that executions will be used even more extensively as a tool of oppression and repression,” the report said.

IHR — which requires two sources to confirm an execution, the majority of which are not reported in Iranian official media — said that the figure represented an “absolute minimum” for the number of hangings in 2025.

The figure amounted to an average of more than four executions per day.

The report said the number of executions was by far the highest since IHR began tracking it in 2008, and was the most reported since 1989, in the earlier years of the Islamic revolution.

????Iran: 10 Political Executions in 8 days With the execution of January protester Ali Fahim this morning, the regime has now hanged 10 political prisoners and protesters in just over a week:????️Mon (Mar 30): Mohammad Taghavi, Akbar Daneshvarkar????️Tue: Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghobadi… https://t.co/UYmHru92yQ pic.twitter.com/NMQhkTu52e Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#336x280_Middle_1")){ window.tude = window.tude || {........

© The Times of Israel