Iran executed more than 900 people in 2024, UN says

The UN's top human rights official said on Tuesday that Iran had executed more than 900 people in 2024, marking a significant increase in executions, particularly among women.

“It is deeply disturbing that yet again we see an increase in the number of people subjected to the death penalty in Iran year on year,” Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.

Mr Turk urged Iran to stem this “ever-swelling tide of executions". At least 901 people were executed by hanging in 2024 in Iran, compared with 853 in 2023, the UN office said. This represents the highest number since 2015, when 972 people were executed.

Most of the executions were for drug-related offences, but political dissidents and people connected with mass protests in 2022 over the death in police custody of a 22-year-old woman detained for wearing her hijab “inappropriately” were also among the victims, the UN statement said.

Iran executes more people a year than any other nation except China, for which no reliable figures are available, according to human rights groups including Amnesty International.