Iran Holocaust
Database · protest-related executions · 2022–2026

Executions.

Iran is the world's top per-capita executioner. This page lists named protesters and dissidents judicially executed by the Islamic Republic since the start of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in September 2022, with date, charge and source.

How many people does Iran execute each year?

Iran Human Rights (IHR) recorded 972 executions in 2024 — the highest annual figure since 2008 — and at least 1,500+ executions in 2025, the highest since the 1988 mass killings. Iran accounts for roughly three out of every four recorded executions worldwide. The figures here cover only protest-related executions; drug-related and ordinary-criminal executions are tracked separately by IHR.

2022–2023 — Woman, Life, Freedom executions

  • Mohsen Shekari, 23 — hanged 8 December 2022, Tehran. Charge: "moharebeh" (waging war against God) for allegedly wounding a Basij member. First protester executed in the uprising.
  • Majidreza Rahnavard, 23 — hanged in public 12 December 2022, Mashhad. Charge: "moharebeh".
  • Mohammad Mehdi Karami, 22 — hanged 7 January 2023, Karaj. Charge: "corruption on earth". Karate champion; tried jointly with Hosseini.
  • Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, 39 — hanged 7 January 2023, Karaj. Volunteer children's coach. Reported beaten and electrocuted during interrogation.
  • Saleh Mirhashemi · Majid Kazemi · Saeed Yaghoubi — hanged 19 May 2023, Isfahan. Known as the "House of Isfahan" case. All reported torture; Kazemi's confession audio leaked from prison.
  • Milad Zohrevand, 21 — hanged 23 November 2023, Hamadan. Convicted in a closed trial.

2024 executions

  • Mohammad Ghobadlou, 23 — hanged 23 January 2024, Karaj. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder; executed despite a stay order.
  • Farhad Salimi — hanged 23 January 2024, Ghezel Hesar. Sunni Kurd held 14 years without retrial.
  • Reza Rasaei, 34 — hanged 6 August 2024. Yarsani religious-minority protester from Kermanshah.
  • Gholamreza Rasaei — hanged August 2024.
  • Pakhshan Azizi — death sentence confirmed 2024; Kurdish women's-rights activist (sentence not yet carried out as of June 2026).

2025–2026 Crimson Winter executions

From January 2026 onward, Iran Human Rights documented a sharp acceleration of protest-related death sentences and executions in connection with the Crimson Winter uprising. Many cases are tried in closed sessions of the Revolutionary Courts without independent counsel; some defendants are executed within days of sentencing. See In Memoriam for the full named list.

Toomaj Salehi case

Rapper Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to death in April 2024 for songs supporting the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising. The Supreme Court overturned the sentence in June 2024 after international outcry; he remains imprisoned. His case is the most-cited example of the regime's use of the death penalty as political intimidation.

What charges are used?

  • Moharebeh ("waging war against God") — carries the death penalty under Article 279 of the Penal Code.
  • Efsad-e fel-arz ("corruption on earth") — Article 286, also capital.
  • Baghi ("armed rebellion") — Article 287.

All three are routinely applied to protesters on the basis of confessions obtained under torture, with no right to choose counsel during investigation.