OPINION:
Since the beginning of 2025, more than 2,100 people in Iran have been executed by hanging at the hands of the ruling authorities. The unprecedented pace of these executions marks one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Islamic republic.
As a former political prisoner who for the past 12 years since my release has been actively engaged in exposing, documenting and analyzing executions in Iran with the goal of abolishing the death penalty, I can state with certainty that this pace of executions is unprecedented.
I carry the enduring trauma of witnessing the execution of my cellmate, Shirin Alam-Houli, a Kurdish political prisoner. Every reported execution revives the memory of that agonizing night, when I desperately wished dawn would never come, fearing the moment we would learn that she had been killed.
What has unfolded in Iranian prisons over the past 12 months amounts to state-sanctioned killing. The sentences are imposed and carried out at the direct will of the Islamic republic, wielded as instruments to terrorize society and suppress popular uprising.
Among the most alarming cases is that of Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, a 67-year-old electrical engineer sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court in Rasht. The verdict was issued in a closed, in-absentia session lasting less than 10 minutes, during which Ms. Tabari — sentenced in October on charges of armed rebellion against the foundations of the republic — was denied access to an attorney of her choosing.
On Dec. 23, eight United Nations human rights experts called on Iran to halt her execution, but these were ignored, as was a signed plea for her release from more than 400 prominent women from around the world.
The execution of women in particular has surged, exceeding 61 cases in 2025. Defendants and their attorneys are routinely denied access to case files, legal counsel is prevented from meaningful participation, and interrogations are conducted under conditions that include prolonged solitary confinement, intense psychological pressure, physical abuse, threats against family members and forced confessions.
Despite the scale and severity of the crisis, responses from democratic governments and international institutions have remained largely weak and inadequate. Nations that profess commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have instead prioritized negotiations, economic interests and diplomatic engagement over meaningful pressure.
Silence in the face of state executions is not neutrality; it is tacit approval.
SHABNAM MADADZADEH
Geneva, Switzerland
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