Iran’s ruling theocracy has launched another brutal wave of executions, exposing once more the violent machinery it uses to maintain power. The pace is staggering: political prisoners, activists, athletes, and ordinary citizens are being pushed through a judicial process designed not to find truth, but to enforce terror. Yet the international response remains limited to cautious statements of “concern,” as though these killings were unavoidable. They are not. They are deliberate acts of repression—crimes for which those responsible must one day be held to account.
Among the latest at risk are several prisoners whose cases symbolize Iran’s growing crisis. Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, a 29-year-old boxing champion; Reza Abdali, 35, from Ahvaz; and Mehdi Vafaei, 39, now isolated in solitary confinement. All face death sentences based on charges such as “corruption on earth” and “waging war against God,” accusations routinely used to silence dissent. Their situation mirrors that of many before them, including wrestler Navid Afkari, executed in 2020, as well as students, workers, and retirees whose only crime was demanding a freer future.
More than 20 Olympic athletes, among them Martina Navratilova, Tracy Edwards, and Sharron Davies, have publicly appealed for Vafaei Sani’s life. Their call is powerful, but it must be supported by governments willing to act. Iran executed 853 people in 2023, a 48% jump from the previous year. In 2024 the number rose to 972, the highest in nearly a decade, and more than 1,000 executions have already taken place this year. Each death sends the same message: the regime will rule by fear when it cannot rule by legitimacy.
The most recent political prisoners condemned to death—such as 67-year-old Zahra Tabari, sentenced after a ten-minute hearing, and 22-year-old Ehsan Faridi—have been swept into a judicial system created to rubber-stamp predetermined outcomes. Torture, denial of legal counsel, fabricated charges, and rushed trials are standard elements of this process. It is a mechanism engineered to break the population’s will.
But beneath this violence lies deep insecurity within the regime. The “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising of 2022 cracked the foundations of the Islamic Republic. Iran’s Generation Z has shown unprecedented defiance, prompting even regime insiders to acknowledge that the youth are “against us.” Officials now warn that the decisive struggle is being waged in the minds of younger Iranians—a telling admission of a government losing its grip.
In its fear, the regime is lashing out: targeting families of dissidents, inventing new capital charges, and intensifying repression in prisons. Yet the rising tide of dissent continues. To ignore these executions is to risk complicity. The international community must demand an immediate halt to politically motivated killings and begin the process of identifying and sanctioning those responsible—from judges and interrogators to senior officials and, ultimately, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The world should also recognize the right of Iranians to resist tyranny. For years, foreign governments have avoided this position out of fear of “interference,” even as the regime interferes violently in the most basic right of all— the right to live. The courage of the Iranian people requires more than sympathy. It requires solidarity and action. Failure to confront this escalating brutality will be remembered not only by history, but by Iranians who continue to risk everything for freedom.
Struan Stevenson is the Coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change (CiC). He was a member of the European Parliament representing Scotland (1999-2014), president of the Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq (2009-14), and chairman of the Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup (2004-14). He is an author and international lecturer on the Middle East.