Iran executed 975 people ‘in horrifying escalation’ of death penalty use: Report

Iran executed at least 975 people last year in a "horrifying escalation" of its use of capital punishment, two human rights groups said on Thursday. Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and French group Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said the figure was the highest since IHR began recording executions in Iran in 2008.

The figure "reveals a horrifying escalation in the use of the death penalty by the Islamic republic in 2024," they said in a joint report, accusing Iran of using the death penalty as a "central tool of political oppression". "These executions are part of the Islamic republic's war against its own people to maintain its grip on power," IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.