Statement by the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization on the World Day Against the Death Penalty
10 October 2026
The World Day Against the Death Penalty, observed on 10 October 2026, provides an annual opportunity to reaffirm a fundamental and indivisible human rights demand: No to the execution of any person, and yes to the immediate and comprehensive cessation of all executions in Iran.
Over the past decades, reports and testimonies published by independent human rights organisations and international mechanisms have documented an escalating pattern of serious violations of the right to life, including torture, hasty and unfair trials, and systematic repression. This has been particularly evident in the findings of the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, which concluded, in its assessment of the authorities’ response to protests, that some of these practices and violations amount to crimes against humanity.
In this context, international efforts have been reinforced by human rights awareness campaigns. During the 63rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, 46 countries issued a joint statement strongly condemning the widespread wave of executions, particularly the execution of at least 31 protesters in connection with the January 2022 protests, and calling for the immediate revocation of all such sentences.
Documented statistics published by independent human rights organisations, including Iran Human Rights and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights, reveal an alarming trend in the use of capital punishment. In 2025 alone, at least 1,639 executions were carried out, while hundreds of others face the prospect of similar sentences following trials that lack transparency and are based on fabricated and politically motivated charges.
According to Amnesty International:
Iran ranked first among countries for which verifiable data was available, with at least 2,159 executions recorded in 2025. This figure represents more than twice the total recorded in 2024 and accounts for approximately 80% of all recorded executions worldwide, excluding China.
Despite the authorities’ concealment of the actual figures, Iran ranks second globally in terms of the total number of executions carried out.
We, at the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization, drawing upon the longstanding suffering of the Ahwazi Arab people over 47 years of oppression and executions, dating back to the events of “Black Wednesday” in 1979 and continuing to the present day, emphasise that the expanding use of the death penalty, together with the marked increase in enforced disappearances, serves as a political instrument of intimidation and social subjugation.
Accordingly, the organisation joins the voices of all countries and international institutions opposed to legitimising the deprivation of the right to life. It calls upon the international community and the United Nations to exert the strongest possible political and human rights pressure to secure an immediate halt to executions, the permanent abolition of the death penalty, and the establishment of accountability and transparency.
Ahwaz Human Rights Organization (AHRO)
10 October 2026
