ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran began the new year by executing 10 people in a prison north of Tehran, a human rights watchdog reported on Friday.
“The number of prisoners executed in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj on the first day of 2025 has reached 10,” said Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
Ghezel Hesar Prison, located in Karaj northwest of Tehran, is one of the sites where torture and executions are known to occur.
The United States sanctioned the prison in late December, calling it a “site of gross violations of human rights, namely cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment of individuals in Iran who sought to exercise their right to freedom of expression.”
The death sentences were carried out at dawn on January 1. Only three of the executions have been officially reported.
Among those put to death, three were Kurds from Kermanshah and Bojnurd, Hengaw reported.
Some of the prisoners were sentenced to death on murder charges.
In 2024, Iran executed over 600 people, more than 120 of them were Kurds, according to Hengaw.
“In 2023, executions soared, with at least 853 people executed across the country, marking a 48% increase from 2022 and a 172% increase from 2021,” Amnesty International reported in April.
