The clerical regime in Iran, mired in internal and external crises and terrified of an explosion of public anger, has resorted to the weapon of execution to intimidate the public and control the situation. It has accelerated executions at an unprecedented rate since the beginning of the Persian year in mid-March.
The regime hanged 22 prisoners from April 21 to 23. On Tuesday, April 22, Fox News reported on the rise in executions in Iran, stating: “Iran ramps up state executions amid nuclear talks with US… Iran has carried out 1,051 state executions since President Masoud Pezeshkian took office on July 8, 2024… The figure, reported to Fox News Digital by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), represents a more than 20% increase from the number of Iranians killed in 2023, which saw 853 Iranians executed by the regime.”
Quoting the NCRI, Fox News wrote: “Such levels of savagery and brutality reflect the deadly deadlock in which the ruling religious fascism in Iran is trapped. [Supreme Leader of Iran Ali] Khamenei is desperately trying to prevent a nationwide uprising and the inevitable overthrow of his regime through executions and killings.”
Amnesty International reported earlier this month that girls as young as nine can be sentenced to death, while the age for boys starts at 15.
In Farvardin this year (March 21-April 20, 2025), the regime hanged 83 prisoners, including six political prisoners, five women, and two child offenders. According to official documents from the regime’s judiciary, the number of executions during the same period is four times higher than the previous year. On Tuesday, April 15 alone, 10 prisoners were executed, and over a seven-day period (April 9-15), 47 prisoners were sent to the gallows, 17 of whom were members of the Baluch community.
Concurrent with the acceleration of executions, during a conference held at the City Hall of Paris’s 5th Arrondissement attended by French mayors, elected officials, and personalities, over 1,000 French mayors issued a statement supporting the call by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the NCRI, to end executions in Iran. In their statement, the mayors expressed concern about the increasing trend of executions, which has intensified since Masoud Pezeshkian took office as the regime’s president, and affirmed: “The ruling regime uses these executions for political purposes to prevent popular uprisings by creating fear and terror.” Another part of the mayors’ statement, recalling the report by Professor Javaid Rehman (former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran), stated: “Massacres, torture, and inhumane acts against the PMOI were carried out with genocidal intent. Every execution under this regime is inherently political. The international community’s lack of reaction to repression, killings, and executions has encouraged the regime to continue its suppression, especially through executions. The UN Fact-Finding Mission, in its report, recognized instances of murder, imprisonment, torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence by the regime as crimes against humanity.”
The regime has accelerated the criminal execution process to prevent a popular uprising. In response, Iran’s rebellious youth, with 20 fiery operations, are showing to the regime that it cannot escape its inevitable overthrow at the hands of the people of Iran.