9th October, 2026
UN experts* today called on
Iranian authorities to immediately halt all executions,
warning that Iran is among a shrinking group of States that
still execute, and by far the most prolific per head of
population.
“Iran has seen too much death: lives
lost to war and lives taken by their own State,” the
experts said.
In January 2026, security forces killed
thousands of protesters – conduct the Independent
International Fact-Finding Mission found amounted to crimes
against humanity. “What happened cannot be undone, but
what happens to those now facing execution lies entirely
within the authorities’ control.”
No one arrested
over the protests should be executed, regardless of the
accusations brought against them. “The cases brought to
our attention are so riddled with procedural unfairness and
underlying gross human rights violations, including torture,
enforced disappearances, sexual violence, coerced
confessions and denial of access to lawyers of their
choosing, especially at the investigation stage, that this
alone should rule out execution,” the experts
said.
“Iran’s death penalty is used to silence
dissent, with broadly defined national security offences
recasting peaceful activity as a threat. That must
change,” they said. “Iran’s own history shows that
grievances left unaddressed resurface, however brutally they
are repressed. Executions do not end dissent, but breed the
next wave of it.”
While attention focuses on
security cases, most executions in Iran are for homicide,
under qisas (retribution-in-kind), and for drug-related
offences. Such executions are an easy substitute for the
harder work of confronting the main drivers of homicides and
the drug trade, including poverty, discrimination and
gender-based violence. Those executed for drug offences
appear to be overwhelmingly low-level couriers driven by
hardship, many from marginalised ethnic minorities, and not
those at the top of the trade.
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
Qisas removes
responsibility from judges, and places life and death in the
hands of victims’ families, where the ability to pay diya
(blood money) can decide who lives. This is also deeply
gendered: women unable to afford diya are executed for
killing abusive husbands, often after child marriage and
years of violence in a country where women have neither
legal protection from domestic violence, nor the means to
escape it.
The experts noted that consensual same-sex
acts and religious offences, such as apostasy, remain
punishable by death. “Regardless of the number of
executions carried out for these offences, as long as these
laws exist, people cannot hold, change or leave a religion
or belief, or live openly according to their sexual
orientation. They cannot express who they are without
fear.”
The experts urged authorities to establish an
immediate moratorium on executions as a first step towards
abolition, to commute all death sentences and to review
every case against fair trial standards.
“A
moratorium would send a powerful message to the people of
Iran: that the State’s use of lethal force can end, and
that the country can move away from a system that has
produced far too many arbitrary executions,” the experts
said.
*The
experts:
- Mai Sato, the
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the
Islamic Republic of Iran - Graeme Reid,
the
Independent Expert on protection against violence and
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender
identity - Morris Tidball-Binz, the
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions - Nazila Ghanea, the
Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or
belief - Margaret Satterthwaite , the
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and
lawyers - Leopoldo Maldonado Gutiérrez,
the
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the
right to freedom of opinion and
expression - Gina Romero, the
Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful
assembly and of association - Andrea
Bolaños Vargas, the
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights
defenders - Richard Bennett, the
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Afghanistan - Matthew Gillett
(Chair-Rapporteur), Ms. Ganna Yudkivska (Vice-Chair for
Communications), Mr. Ethan Hee-Seok Shin (Vice-Chair for
Follow-Up), Ms. Miriam Estrada Castillo and Mr. Mumba
Malila, the
Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention - Claudia Flores (Chair), Ivana
Krstić (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, Haina Lu, and
Laura Nyirinkindi, the
Working Group on discrimination against women and
girls - Grażyna Baranowska
(Chair-Rapporteur), Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez
(Vice-Chair), Aua Baldé, Gabriella Citroni and Mohamed Al
Obaidi, the
Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances - Pau Pérez-Sales, the
Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or
Punishment
