Executions Surge in Iran Since the Woman Life Freedom uprising, Iranian authorities have doubled down on their brutal use of the death penalty as a tool of oppression to terrorize the public and tighten their grip on power. In 2023, executions soared with over 853 people executed, a 48% increase...

Since the Woman Life Freedom uprising, Iranian authorities have doubled down on their brutal use of the death penalty as a tool of oppression to terrorize the public and tighten their grip on power. Prisons have become sites of mass state-sanctioned killings. In 2023, executions soared with over...

Concerns are growing as thousands are potentially facing the death penalty, with many either awaiting execution or under investigation for drug-related crimes, amidst a dramatic increase in executions in Iran. In 2023, at least 481 people were executed for such offenses, constituting more than half...

Robust international action is urgently needed to halt a horrifying surge in executions that saw Iran’s prisons transformed into sites of mass killings in 2023, said Amnesty International. In a new research briefing published today the organization highlights that at least 481 executions – more...

Iranian authorities are waging a large-scale campaign to enforce repressive compulsory veiling laws through widespread surveillance of women and girls in public spaces and mass police checks targeting women drivers, said Amnesty International ahead of International Women’s Day. Tens of thousands...

The death in detention of 22-year-old Mahsa (Zhina) Amini on September 16, 2022, following her violent arrest by Iran’s “morality” police sparked an unprecedented popular uprising. The crackdown was swift and brutal: hundreds of protesters were killed, thousands injured, and over 20,000...

The Iranian authorities’ executions of Mohammad Ghobadlou and Farhad Salimimark after egregiously unfair trials mark a harrowing descent into new realms of cruelty, said Amnesty International today. On 23 January 2024 at dawn, the authorities arbitrarily executed Mohammad Ghobadlou, a...

Anwar Khezri, Farhad Salimi, Kamran Sheikheh, and Khosrow Basharat, members of Iran’s Kurdish Sunni minority, face a serious threat of execution in Ghezel Hesar prison, Alborz province. This comes amid a concerning increase in executions across the country. Notably, three other Iranian...

Mojahed (Abbas) Kourkouri is at imminent risk of execution in relation to the September-December 2022 popular uprising. On December 24, his family learned that Branch 39 of the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence. His sentence was sent for implementation, amid an ongoing increase...

Iranian Kurdish man Reza (Gholamreza) Rasaei is at imminent risk of execution in relation to the September-December 2022 nationwide protests. On December 16, 2023, Branch 17 of the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence for “murder”, following a grossly unfair trial that...

Narges Mohammadi and Zeynab Jalalian, both long-term women human rights defenders, have been repeatedly targeted and detained for their human rights work. Amnesty International is calling for their immediate and unconditional release. Women and girls were at the forefront of the popular...

Security forces in Iran used rape and other forms of sexual violence, amounting to torture and other ill-treatment, to intimidate and punish peaceful protesters during the 2022 “Woman Life Freedom” uprising, Amnesty International said in a new report published today.   The...