“Public executions add an extra layer of outrage upon human dignity… not only on the dignity of the people concerned, the people who are executed, but also on all those who have to bear witness,” Ravina Shamdasani said. Photo: https://www.unognewsroom.org/
More than 800 people have been executed in Iran since the start of the year, the U.N. said on Friday (August 29, 2025), decrying “a systematic pattern of using the death penalty as a tool of state intimidation”.
The United Nations rights office said there had been a “major increase in executions during the first half of 2025”.
“Iranian authorities have executed at least 841 people since the beginning of the year and up until August 28, 2025,” spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva, warning that “the real situation might be different. It might be worse, given the lack of transparency”.
In July alone, she said Iran had executed at least 110 individuals — double the number of people executed in July 2024.
“The high number of executions indicates a systematic pattern of using death penalty as a tool of state intimidation, with disproportionate targeting of ethnic minorities and migrants,” she cautioned.
Ms. Shamdasani in particular lamented the use of public executions in Iran, with the rights office documenting seven such cases since the beginning of the year.
“Public executions add an extra layer of outrage upon human dignity… not only on the dignity of the people concerned, the people who are executed, but also on all those who have to bear witness,” she said.
“The psychological trauma of bearing witness to somebody being hanged in public, particularly for children, is unacceptable,” she added.
Ms. Shamdasani said that 11 individuals were currently facing “imminent execution” in Iran, including six who have been charged with “armed rebellion” due to alleged membership of the exiled opposition People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran (MEK).
The other five had been sentenced to death over their participation in large-scale protests in 2022, she said, adding that Iran’s supreme court confirmed last week the death sentence against workers’ rights activist Sharifeh Mohammadi.
“The death penalty is incompatible with the right to life and irreconcilable with human dignity,” she insisted. “It creates an unacceptable risk of executing innocent people. It should never be imposed for conduct that is protected under international human rights law,” she said.
The U.N. rights office was urging Iran’s government “not to implement the death penalty against these and other individuals on death row”, Ms. Shamdasani said.
Published – August 29, 2025 04:54 pm IST
