October 2025 marked one of the darkest months for human rights in Iran in recent decades, witnessing at least 279 executions, averaging one every two to three hours. This record monthly toll brought the total number of executions in 2025 to 1,455. Among those executed were eight women and one juvenile offender, while political prisoners faced intensified repression, denial of medical care, and collective punishment. Simultaneously, Iran saw widespread prison protests and hunger strikes demanding an end to executions.
Executions occurred in clusters across major prisons, including Qezel Hesar, Shiraz, Isfahan, Mashhad, and Ahvaz, with several mass execution days reaching double-digit counts—24 people executed on October 15 alone. The majority were convicted on drug-related charges, but political prisoners were also targeted under vague “security” or “corruption on earth” accusations, often following unfair, rushed trials held via video conference and without legal counsel.
On October 4, authorities executed seven political prisoners. Six Ahvazi Arab men—Ali Mojadam, Seyed Salem Mousavi, Seyed Adnan Ghobeishavi, Moein Khanfari, Habib Deris, and Mohammadreza Moghadam—were executed in Sepidar Prison after years of torture and interrogation. That same day, Saman Mohammadi-Khiareh was executed in Karaj on charges of armed opposition.
Throughout the month, Iran’s Supreme Court upheld several controversial death sentences, including those of Ehsan Faridi (a 22-year-old student and PMOI supporter), Manouchehr Fallah, and Mohammad Javad Vafaei-Sani, despite serious legal irregularities. In another shocking case, Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, arrested in April 2025, received a death sentence after a ten-minute video hearing without her chosen lawyer.
The crackdown extended beyond executions. On October 15, Hassan Saedi, a 34-year-old Ahvazi Arab cultural activist, died in custody following severe beatings by security forces, with officials claiming “cardiac arrest.” Reports from multiple prisons also exposed systematic medical neglect—a form of slow killing. Critically ill prisoners such as Mohammad Ali Akbari Monfared, Hoda Mehreganfar, Shiva Esmaeili, and Fatemeh Ziaee were denied hospital transfers or essential treatment. Two prisoners reportedly died from lack of care in Shiraz and Qezel Hesar.
In a remarkable act of defiance, more than 1,500 death-row prisoners in Qezel Hesar’s Unit 2 launched a week-long hunger strike in mid-October, some sewing their lips shut and holding signs reading “No to Execution.” The protest, supported by families demonstrating outside parliament in Tehran, forced authorities to temporarily halt executions and return six prisoners from solitary confinement. The movement merged with the long-running “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign, now active in 54 prisons nationwide.
Despite these acts of resistance, the judiciary continued its punitive campaign, confirming new death sentences and attempting further executions. Meanwhile, citizens across Iran—Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, and other cities—joined families of death-row prisoners in street protests demanding justice and freedom for political detainees.
October’s developments underscore a systemic assault on the right to life, due process, and human dignity in Iran. Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) urges the UN Human Rights Council, the EU, and international organizations to act decisively: demand an immediate moratorium on executions, condemn political and juvenile death sentences, ensure medical access for prisoners, and dispatch an independent fact-finding mission to investigate Iran’s prisons. Without urgent action, countless more lives remain at imminent risk.