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Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC) unequivocally condemns the unprecedented surge in executions carried out by Iranian authorities, which reached a deeply alarming peak in November with the execution of at least 260 individuals
—the highest monthly total recorded in more than two decades.
WJWC expresses grave concern over these figures, documented in reports released in December 2025, stressing that the practices unfolding within Iranian detention facilities cannot be characterized as the lawful administration of justice. Rather, the organization affirms that these executions amount to systematic state killing and extrajudicial deprivation of life, carried out in the near-total absence of minimum guarantees of fair trial, due process, and judicial transparency.
According to credible local sources, executions in November increased by over 106 percent compared to the previous month, indicating a deliberate escalation rather than isolated judicial outcomes. Particularly disturbing is the disproportionate targeting of ethnic minorities, with Kurdish and Baloch detainees comprising a significant proportion of those executed. This pattern underscores the use of capital punishment as a tool of political repression and collective intimidation directed at specific communities.
Women Journalists Without Chains further condemns the execution of at least seven women during this wave, reflecting the entrenched and institutionalized violence against women within Iran’s discriminatory judicial framework. The imposition of the death penalty on women in a system marked by systemic gender inequality highlights the broader collapse of legal safeguards and human rights protections.
Credible documentation also confirms that a number of executions were carried out in secrecy, without prior notification to families and without permitting final visits. Such practices constitute a form of psychological torture inflicted on both victims and their relatives and amount to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment strictly prohibited under international law.
WJWC emphasizes that these practices represent a clear and flagrant violation of the right to life, as guaranteed under Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a State Party and legally bound.
The organization further stresses that the overwhelming majority of those executed—particularly individuals convicted in drug-related cases or political cases under vague and broadly defined charges such as “corruption on earth”—were denied access to effective legal representation and subjected to coerced confessions extracted under torture. Proceedings tainted by torture, denial of counsel, and lack of due process constitute a fundamental breach of fair trial standards, rendering the resulting death sentences unlawful under international law.
In light of these violations, Women Journalists Without Chains calls for urgent and decisive action:
· To Iranian authorities: Immediately and unconditionally halt all executions; annul death sentences issued following unfair or flawed trials; disclose the fate and whereabouts of all forcibly disappeared detainees; and bring domestic practices into full compliance with Iran’s international legal obligations.
· To the United Nations Human Rights Council: Mandate the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran to conduct an immediate and focused investigation into this “silent massacre” and to document these unprecedented execution figures as potential evidence of crimes against humanity in its forthcoming reports.
· To the international community: End the prevailing silence and inaction. WJWC warns that continued indifference amounts to a de facto authorization for Iranian authorities to persist in this machinery of death. Sustained and meaningful diplomatic and political pressure must be applied without delay to protect those currently facing execution.
Women Journalists Without Chains reiterates that the international prohibition against arbitrary execution is absolute. The systematic deprivation of life under the guise of justice constitutes one of the gravest violations of human rights and must never be met with political expediency or indifference.
