Iran’s Regime Executes Record Number of Prisoners in Shahrivar Amid Mounting Domestic Unrest

Over 190 executions mark the deadliest month in three decades, exposing the regime’s reliance on repression

A Record-Breaking Month of Executions

Shahrivar 1404 (Aug 23 – Sep 22, 2025) marked a grim milestone in Iran under Ali Khamenei’s rule. According to reports compiled by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and international human rights monitors, the regime executed at least 190 prisoners in a single month. This makes Shahrivar the deadliest period of state executions in the past thirty years. On average, the regime killed more than five people each day—roughly one execution every five hours.

The increase is staggering: a 264 percent rise compared to Shahrivar 1403, and more than seven times the number recorded in Shahrivar 1402. Observers warn that this escalation reflects a regime attempting to instill fear in a society teetering on the edge of eruption.

Half a Year of Brutality

Figures from the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) reveal that in just the first half of 1404, at least 855 individuals were executed. Among them were 29 women and five juvenile offenders—individuals convicted of crimes committed before the age of 18. At least six executions were carried out publicly, a practice rights advocates describe as a “deliberate display of terror.”

Continued Wave Into October

The execution campaign did not end with Shahrivar. On Mehr 2 (September 24, 2025), while the regime’s president Masoud Pezeshkian addressed the UN General Assembly in New York, another group of prisoners was executed in Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz. The names of at least eight victims have been confirmed, including Farshad and Ahmadreza Garavand, Meysam Karami, and Ali Keshavarz.

Just days earlier, on September , thirteen prisoners were hanged across Kermanshah, Taybad, Borazjan, and Isfahan. Among those identified were 30-year-old Emad Keshvari, Mojtaba Mahdavi, and Mohammad Beqlani.

Systematic Violation of Human Rights

Human rights organizations emphasize that many of these executions followed unfair trials conducted under duress, often after prolonged solitary confinement and torture. Legal experts highlight that such practices violate Iran’s obligations under Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights—treaties Tehran has signed but routinely ignores.

A human rights activist in exile told INU: “Executions in Iran are not about justice. They are about survival. Whenever the regime faces internal crisis, it resorts to the gallows to intimidate the people.”

NCRI Calls for International Accountability

In response to this surge, the NCRI urged the international community to act. In a recent statement, the coalition warned that silence and inaction only embolden Tehran’s killing machine: “Silence and inaction in the face of the murderers of the Iranian people is fueling terrorism and warmongering. This regime must be expelled from the international community, and its leaders must be brought to justice for 46 years of crimes against humanity and genocide.” The NCRI has called for the referral of Iran regime’s leadership to the UN Security Council for four decades of crimes against humanity.

Executions as a Tool of Survival

Analysts argue that the unprecedented rise in executions is directly tied to the regime’s political and economic crises. With Iran’s economy in freefall and social discontent spreading, the leadership has chosen the gallows as its main method of control. Yet, far from stabilizing the situation, the brutality risks amplifying domestic anger and strengthening international condemnation.