The United Nations has characterized Iran’s current rate of capital punishment as an “unprecedented execution spree.” According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Islamic Republic of Iran has conducted over 1,000 executions since the beginning of the year.
On average, the OHCHR reported that the regime executed around nine individuals daily at the time of their announcement, with most of those executed facing charges of murder or drug-related offenses.
In a bid to draw global attention to their plight, approximately 1,500 Iranian inmates on death row in Ward 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison initiated a hunger strike on October 13. This group includes 17 members of the Iranian dissident group Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK).
A woman places flowers in memory of those executed in Iran during a demonstration held in Paris, France, on May 13, 2025. (Siavosh Hosseini/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A representative from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) revealed to Fox News Digital that Iran had previously executed two MEK members on July 27 and has not yet returned their bodies to their families.
The hunger strike has now extended to Wards 1 and 4 of Ghezel Hesar Prison and has reached the infamous Evin Prison. The NCRI alleges that prison authorities are attempting to undermine the strike and have released videos of prisoners in Ward 3 consuming food to “falsely assert that no hunger strike exists in Ward 2.”
In an exclusive statement provided to Fox News Digital, the striking prisoners said, “Our patience has run out over this endless oppression and the taking of the lives of prisoners and young people. Every day and every week, some of our cellmates are sent to the gallows, and many of us spend our nights in the nightmare of death. These are the most agonizing moments of our lives and of our families. We demand the abolition of the death penalty in Iran.”
The NCRI told Fox News Digital that executions have increased in recent days, with 38 executions taking place between Oct. 13 and Oct. 15. This drove the total “number of executions during the 14½ months of [Masoud] Pezeshkian’s presidency” to “an unprecedented record of 2,008 prisoners.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a meeting in Tehran. Iran has faced international scrutiny over a surge in executions this year. (Iranian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the NCRI, called “for immediate action by the United Nations, U.N. Security Council members, the European Union, and international human rights organizations to end this horrific nightmare in Iran under the rule of the criminal mullahs.”
Iranian prisoners have called on U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to speak out and intervene on their behalf.
Fox News Digital asked if the U.S. State Department is considering additional sanctions against Iranian leaders in response to the rash of executions. A State Department spokesperson said, “We strongly condemn the Iranian regime’s use of executions to kill people for exercising basic human rights, including peacefully protesting for a better life.”
Iranian members of the diaspora, activists, gathered in front of the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin during the ‘United Against Executions in Iran’ protest on Jan. 27, 2024. Organized by the Echo Iran group, this protest condemned the increase in death sentences by the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran. (Echo Iran/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
“For decades, Iranians have been subjected to torture and sham trials resulting in executions and other severe punishments, often with those coerced confessions as the only evidence presented against them. We will continue to hold the Iranian regime accountable, ensuring it faces severe consequences for its heinous acts,” the spokesperson continued.
Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for Guterres, told Fox News Digital, “We stand firmly against and continue to condemn the use of the death penalty in Iran, and anywhere else in the world.”
Earlier this month, the U.N. Human Rights Council drew widespread condemnation after it elected Iran to its advisory committee.
