On the morning of Wednesday, August 20, 2025, a woman named Mahsa Akbari was executed by hanging in Adelabad Prison in Shiraz.
Just one day earlier, her husband had also been executed in public in the city of Beyram, in front of a crowd that included children.
With this latest execution, the clerical regime has put five women to death between July 30 and August 20, within a span of only three weeks.
The execution of Mahsa Akbari brings the total number of women executed in Iran in 2025 to 29.
Iran: The World’s Leading Executioner of Women
Iran holds the grim record for the highest number of women executed globally. According to data compiled by the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), at least 292 women have been executed in Iran since 2007.
Many of the women executed by the Iranian regime are themselves victims of domestic violence and discriminatory family laws. A significant number have acted in self-defense.
The number of women executed in Iran saw a sharp rise in 2024. At least 34 women were hanged last year, with 23 of these executions occurring after Masoud Pezeshkian took office.
In the Iranian calendar Year 1403, at least 38 women were executed in Iran, marking a disturbing 90% increase compared to the previous year.
During one year since Pezeshkian took office in late July 2024, the number of execution victims in Iran has surpassed 1,600. While the total number of executions in the entire 2024 was over 1,000.
These figures reinforce the reality that, regardless of who holds the presidency, the Iranian regime continues to trample on the rights of its people, especially women.
