Iran executed record 975 people in 2024: report

It is also the highest number of executions recorded since IHRNGO's first annual report in 2008 and is significantly higher than the average in that span. 

"The death penalty is weaponised and instrumentalised against people who are vulnerable and weak, typically from marginalised communities," said Javaid Rehman, a former United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, in a foreword to the report. 

The majority of the executions in 2024, 503 or 52 per cent, were for drug-related offences, according to the organisations. Murder charges accounted for 43 per cent of the cases of the death penalty in the country. 

Those executed for the controversial charges of "waging war against God," "corruption on Earth" and "armed rebellion," according to Islamic legal opinion, accounted for three per cent, while two per cent of the executions were for rape and sexual assault. 

According to the report, there was a "sharp rise" in the number of recorded executions after the presidential election and the appointment of Masoud Pezeshkian as Iranian president in the second half of 2024. 

"While the world's attention was focused on escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, the Islamic Republic exploited the lack of international scrutiny to terrorise its own people, carrying out five to six executions every single day," said IHRNGO director Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam. 

"Iranian people demanding their fundamental rights pose the greatest threat to the regime, and the death penalty remains its most powerful tool of political suppression. These executions are part of the Islamic Republic's war against its own people to maintain its grip on power." 

Human rights activists have criticised the use of the death penalty in Iran for years. Only 95 of the 834 executions recorded in the report were officially announced by Tehran, according to the report. 

The activists stressed their report was only a partial picture.