Mothers, Child Brides, and Victims; 54 Killed in 12 Months
As the World Day Against the Death Penalty is observed, the situation of executions of women in Iran presents a horrifying picture of the scale of structural violence against women.
According to information documented by the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, at least 28 women have been executed in prisons across Iran since the beginning of 2026. Over a twelve-month period, from October 2025 to October 2026, the number of women executed in Iran reached at least 54. This shocking figure underscores the continued use of the death penalty against women.
These figures have been recorded under circumstances in which, following the nationwide protests of January 2026, months of widespread internet shutdowns, severe communication restrictions, and extensive censorship made the flow of information from inside Iran to the outside world extremely difficult and, in many cases, virtually impossible.
At the same time, a significant number of executions are never officially announced by judicial authorities or state-run media.
On the one hand, the clerical regime has expanded the use of executions in an effort to spread fear, intimidate society, and prevent the growth of popular protests. On the other hand, due to concerns over domestic backlash and international consequences, many of these executions are carried out in secret and without official notification.
For this reason, the available figures should be regarded as only the minimum number of documented and verified executions. The actual number of executions of women in Iran is undoubtedly higher than the cases that have been recorded and published despite censorship, official concealment, and months of communication blackouts.
Executions as a Tool of Repression
In a year when Iran faced a deeply restless society, particularly in the aftermath of the nationwide protests of January 2026, along with mounting political and security crises, execution remained one of the regime’s most important tools of repression.
The rise in executions under such circumstances is not merely a criminal justice policy. It is part of a broader mechanism for spreading fear and silencing social discontent.
The experience of past decades has repeatedly shown that whenever the ruling establishment has faced profound internal crises, it has intensified both the use of the death penalty and broader forms of repression.
Since Masoud Pezeshkian took office, the clerical regime has executed over 4,100 prisoners, including 116 women. From January through October 2026 alone, at least 1,150 prisoners were sent to the gallows in prisons across Iran.
Amnesty International confirmed in its annual report that Iran’s ruling dictatorship carried out at least 2,159 executions in 2025, the highest documented annual execution rate worldwide since 1981.
According to published figures, Iran’s ruling clerical regime carries out the highest number of executions of women in the world.
From Child Marriage to the Gallows
A review of the cases of women executed in 2026 shows that many of them had already been trapped in cycles of discrimination, violence, and injustice long before they reached the gallows. Among them were women who had been forced into marriage as children or teenagers, had endured years of domestic abuse, and had been denied even the most basic legal protections.
For many of these women, the road to the gallows did not begin with the issuance of a death sentence. It began years earlier, when as child brides or victims of violence they were deprived of choice, protection, and justice.
One of the most heartbreaking examples was Marzieh Nayyeri. At just 17 years old, she was pressured by her family into marrying a man she did not love.
Her husband regularly used drugs and alcohol at home, and Marzieh later testified in court that she had repeatedly been subjected to harassment and abuse by his friends.
When Marzieh was only 18, her husband and one of his associates, after consuming alcohol, attempted to sexually assault her. To defend herself and prevent the assault, she reacted with a kitchen knife, an act that led to her husband’s death.
During her trial, she repeatedly stressed that she had acted solely to protect her life and dignity and that she had been the victim of years of violence and threats. Nevertheless, the court rejected her claim of self-defense, and she was ultimately executed.
Another example was Hanifeh Avandi, who was forced into an arranged marriage at the age of 17 under family pressure and lived for years with the psychological consequences of that experience.
Arezoo Rastad, who was hanged at the age of 23, had likewise been forced as a teenager to marry a man much older than herself and, according to informed sources, had repeatedly endured severe domestic violence.
These cases demonstrate that many women executed in Iran are not only victims of the death penalty itself, but also victims of a system that perpetuates child marriage, forced marriage, violence against women, and the denial of effective judicial protection.
From Poverty and Abuse to the Gallows
Another group of victims among the executions of women in Iran consisted of women convicted in drug-related cases.
However, a closer examination of these cases shows that many of these women lived under conditions of extreme poverty, marginalization, and social vulnerability.
Meanwhile, organized drug-trafficking networks, whose strings are controlled by the IRGC, and which enjoy vast financial resources and influence, continue to operate with impunity.
The cases of Sohaila Azizi, Kimia Khani, Mina Nasirpour, Setayesh Mohammadpour, and Rezvan Asgharzadeh are examples of women whose lives became trapped in a cycle of poverty and deprivation.
Among the cases of 2026, the story of Afsaneh Zandabadi occupies a particularly significant place. Afsaneh Zandabadi was only 22 years old. From childhood, she was subjected to abuse and threats by her stepfather, was denied an education, and, according to her own account, was repeatedly raped. Eventually, that same stepfather forced her into the drug-trafficking trade, and she was ultimately executed. Yet the stepfather faced no legal consequences.
This reality raises a fundamental question: Why are poor and defenseless women sent to the gallows, while the principal actors and beneficiaries of the vast drug trade, many of whom are tied to IRGC networks, are never brought before justice?
Mothers Among the Victims
At least seven of the executed women were mothers.
Tayyebeh Hekmat, Asma Zarei, Setayesh Mohammadpour, Azam Gerami, Mahtab Shirmohammadi, Zahra Azizpour, and Rezvan Asgharzadeh were among the women whose children were left orphaned after their executions were carried out.
In many cases, the human dimensions of this tragedy are especially devastating.
Asma Zarei was a 28-year-old mother who gave birth to her child during imprisonment. At the time of her execution, her child was only two years old.
Setayesh Mohammadpour was executed while her two children, aged eight and eleven, were waiting for their mother to return home. Likewise, Rezvan Asgharzadeh, a 45-year-old mother of six, was executed despite having previously been included on a list of prisoners eligible for clemency before her name was removed.
The execution of a woman is not merely the end of one person’s life; its destructive consequences extend to the next generation as well.
Defying the Gallows from Behind Prison Walls
In the face of the escalating wave of executions, one of the most important expressions of resistance in Iran has emerged from within the prisons themselves and is now in its third year.
The “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign arose from the very prisons built by the regime to silence dissenting voices. Participating prisoners, among them a significant number of female political prisoners, hold weekly hunger strikes demanding an end to executions and directing their protest at what they see as the regime’s foremost instrument of repression: the death penalty.
Despite pressure, threats, and intimidation, the campaign has not only survived but has steadily expanded.
If execution is the regime’s principal instrument for instilling fear in society, then the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign can be regarded as the most enduring and organized protest movement against this policy in recent years, a movement that emerged not in a free environment, but from behind prison walls and from the heart of some of the harshest forms of repression.
Executions of Women in Iran Demand Global Attention
The World Day Against the Death Penalty is an opportunity for the international community to once again focus attention on the executions of women in Iran.
The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran calls on the United Nations and relevant international bodies, particularly the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, and all organizations dedicated to defending human rights and women’s rights, to take urgent action to prevent the execution of death-row prisoners, especially women prisoners.
Every day of delay costs the lives of dozens of human beings.
