UN rights chief says Iran executed at least 56 people since March

In a statement released on Wednesday detailing a surge in capital punishment, Turk warned that state-sanctioned executions were being deployed to crush public opposition.

“I am alarmed by the rise in executions and death sentences issued in Iran since March, and that capital punishment continues to be used to instil fear among the population and suppress dissent,” Turk said. “I urge the authorities to urgently halt all executions and move towards the abolition of the death penalty.”

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said more than 100 other people remain at risk of execution on similar security charges, while executions for drug-related offences continue to be carried out at an “alarming rate”.

Turk highlighted systemic judicial failures across the Iranian legal system, emphasising that a “persistent lack of fair trial and due process guarantees are deeply troubling”.

According to reports received by the rights office, confessions leading to capital verdicts have allegedly been obtained under torture and other ill-treatment.

The UN also voiced alarm over the speed and secrecy of judicial proceedings, noting that several executions were reportedly carried out only weeks after arrest, while 12 defendants were sentenced to death following a single three-hour closed-door hearing.

Rights monitor Amnesty International reported in July that the lethal wave stems from a broader state campaign following a major popular uprising in January.

Amnesty warned that Iranian authorities are unleashing executions to “punish and suppress dissent and project an image of strength and absolute control”, documenting dozens of arbitrary executions handed down by Revolutionary Courts without basic trial safeguards.

The nationwide demonstrations erupted in late December and January after a collapse in the value of the Iranian rial led to hyperinflation and severe food price spikes, rapidly evolving from economic strikes into widespread antigovernment protests demanding political reform.

Highlighting the broader human rights situation, UN experts have repeatedly called on Tehran to end arbitrary detentions and reform its penal code.

Iranian officials have rejected UN criticisms of their judicial system, maintaining that capital punishment is a lawful measure applied strictly in accordance with national legal frameworks and religious law.