Iran International

Iran executed at least 58 prisoners in March, a significant rise from the previous year’s tally for the same month, according to the Norway-based rights group Hengaw.

The executions represent a sharp increase of at least 222% compared to March 2024, when only 18 executions were recorded.

Hengaw said it confirmed the identities of all 58 prisoners executed last month, adding that at least four of them were women, three of whom were convicted of murder, while one faced charges related to drug offenses.

Hengaw said that four of the executions were particularly alarming, carried out without prior notice to the prisoners' families, and the individuals not granted final visits before being put to death.

A majority of the executions were related to drug offenses, which accounted for 52% of the cases, in breach of international law. The rest were primarily linked to premeditated murder charges, accounting for 48% of the total executions, according to Hengaw's report.

Last month, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, warned that the Islamic Republic is increasing its use of executions as a tool to suppress dissent as she presented her first report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Sato warned of Iran's increasing use of executions to suppress dissent, with at least 169 executions recorded in January and February alone this year.

"Should this alarming rate remain consistent, the total number of executions could exceed 1,000 this year, a chilling threshold that demands a collective global response,” Sato said.

Iran executed 901 people in 2024, including 31 women, according to the United Nations human rights office.