July 2025 marked a chilling escalation in the Iranian regime’s campaign of repression, with widespread human rights violations reaching new levels of brutality. Over the course of the month, Iranian authorities executed 108 individuals, including two political prisoners and at least one woman. Among these were three public hangings, carried out in Bukan, Miandoab, and Damghan—intended as tools of fear and intimidation.
The regime’s use of execution as a political weapon was starkly evident in the July 27 execution of political prisoners Behrouz Ehsani (70) and Mehdi Hassani (48), both affiliated with the (PMOI). Their execution was preceded by weeks of torture, psychological abuse, and solitary confinement in Evin Prison’s notorious Ward 209. Tried without due process by Judge Iman Afshari, the two men were sentenced to death for “enmity against God” and membership in a so-called terrorist group. Their bodies were secretly buried, and their families were denied the right to bury them—an additional layer of cruelty.
In the days leading to their execution, the regime violently cracked down on political prisoners in Qezel Hesar Prison, conducting a raid on July 26 involving over 100 guards. Prisoners were beaten, hooded, and forcibly relocated to solitary confinement. The assault was a preemptive measure to silence dissent inside the prison, particularly ahead of the executions and the forcible exile of Saeed Masouri, a political prisoner held for over 25 years.
Masouri, arrested in 2000, was violently transferred to Zahedan Prison in Iran’s southeast after previous attempts to move him were blocked by inmate protests. In a defiant public message, he condemned the transfer as a politically motivated abduction and warned of looming massacres reminiscent of the 1988 mass executions of political prisoners.
Further worsening the situation, the regime issued multiple new death sentences targeting PMOI supporters. On July 12, the Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz sentenced Farshad Etemadi-Far, Masoud Jamei, and Alireza Mardasi to death, following two years of solitary confinement and torture. The charges—ranging from “propaganda against the regime” to “enmity against God”—were based on coerced confessions and lacked credible evidence.
Similarly, on July 24, Yaghoub Derakhshan, a 50-year-old PMOI supporter from Bandar Anzali, was sentenced to death via a videoconference trial held without legal representation. He was charged with “baghi” (armed rebellion), a common pretext used to eliminate political opposition.
July 2025 exposed a deeply entrenched pattern of state violence, aimed at eradicating dissent both inside and outside prison walls. Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) urges the international community, including the UN, EU, and global human rights bodies, to:
- Demand a moratorium on executions in Iran
- Condemn the execution of political prisoners
- Pressure the regime to release all political detainees
- Send fact-finding missions to investigate Iran’s prison conditions
- Hold officials accountable for crimes against humanity, including those responsible for the 1988 and 2025 mass executions
The human rights crisis in Iran is deepening. Silence is no longer an option.
