Iran executed 87 prisoners in January, a 17% increase: Watchdog

01-02-2025
Donya Seif Qazi @donyaseifqazi
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran executed 87 prisoners in January, a 17% increase compared to the number of death sentences carried out in the same month last year, a human rights monitor stated on Saturday.

“According to the recorded statistics at the Statistics and Documentation Center of the Hengaw Human Rights Organization, at least 87 prisoners were executed in Iranian prisons in January 2025,” Hengaw stated. 

This was 13 more people put to death than in January 2024.

Many of the people executed were from Iran’s minority groups - 17 were Kurds, 10 were Lors, and 4 were Baluchis.

Iran ranks second globally for known executions and the number of death penalties it carries out has dramatically risen in recent years, according to Amnesty International.

Iran began 2025 by carrying out 10 death sentences on the first day of the year, among them were three Kurds. 

Human rights groups have said Tehran uses the death penalty to suppress minority groups, like Kurds and Baluchis, who were active in the 2022 Jin Jiyan Azadi protests.

In 2024, Iran executed over 600 people, more than 120 of them were Kurds, according to Hengaw. 
 

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