In the early hours of Thursday, May 1, 2025, a woman named Saghar was executed at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj.
Saghar, a resident of Kamalshahr, Karaj, had been sentenced to death in connection with a joint murder case involving a man named Mehrdad.
Saghar and Mehrdad were arrested approximately six years ago on charges of murdering Saghar’s husband, Farid. Following several court sessions, both defendants were sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary—a verdict later upheld by the Supreme Court.
However, Mehrdad managed to avoid execution after obtaining the consent of the victim’s family and paying diyeh (blood money). Saghar, unable to secure such an agreement, was ultimately executed.
With the execution of Saghar in Ghezel Hesar Prison, the number of women executed in Iran in 2025 has risen to fourteen.
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 277 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 Massoud 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.
A Statistical Comparison of Women’s Executions in Iran
Between 2013 and 2020, at least 120 women were executed in Iran, averaging 15 executions per year. In contrast, the execution of 34 women in 2024 marks more than a twofold increase, signaling an alarming trend.
Since Ebrahim Raisi took office in 2021, the number of executions—including those of women—has steadily increased. This upward trajectory has accelerated after Raisi’s death on May 19, 2023, and Pezeshkian’s rise to power in August 2023.
Since Raisi’s death, an average of 3.3 women have been executed per month. Pezeshkian openly defended the regime’s execution policy on October 9, 2024. In comparison, during Raisi’s 34-month tenure, 63 women were executed, averaging 1.85 executions per month.
Within just nine months after Pezeshkian took office, the number of execution victims in Iran surpassed 1,000. 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.
