Iran has broken its own record for executing the most women in one year, a grim reminder of how the regime uses the death penalty to repress the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ movement, ignited by the killing of Mahsa (Jina) Amini in police custody in Tehran.
The United Nations said 31 women were hanged in prisons in 2024 – the highest annual number since records began 17 years ago.
But considering secret executions, the real number is significantly higher, activists in exile have warned.
Behind the statistic are women who have become victims of Iran’s ‘gender apartheid’.
Some of of the women were convicted for murdering their husbands after suffering domestic abuse or being forced into marriage as children.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, said: ‘The execution of women not only reveals the brutal and inhumane nature of the death penalty but also exposes the deep-rooted gender discrimination and inequality within the judicial system.’
A report by the organisation said that at least 241 women were executed between 2010 and 2024m with half of them identified only by their initials or remained completely anonymous.
It said 114 women were put to death for murder, while 107 on drug-related charges.
Nine of the executed women since 2008 were child brides, three of whom were also child offenders, meaning they were under 18 at the time of their alleged crime.
‘An unknown number of women remain on death row, their lives are in danger, among them are Kurdish activists Varisheh Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi,’ the report added.
‘Since 1979, the Islamic Republic has used executions as a tool of political oppression to instill fear and maintain its grip on power, with thousands of women and men executed following sham trials.
‘While the majority of those executed have been men, the stories of women and the gender-specific dimensions of the death penalty in the country have largely remained hidden.’
The 31 women were among altogether 901 prisoners hanged throughout 2024.
It compared with 853 in 2023, the UN rights office said. That represented the highest number since 2015, when 972 people were executed.
Metro reported on a number of harrowing cases of executions emerging from Iran throughout last year.
Among the victims in 2024 were Mohammad Ghobadlou, a barber with a mental disability, who was arrested in 2023 during the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests.
‘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,’ UN High chief for human rights Volker Türk said.
‘It is high time Iran stemmed this ever-swelling tide of executions.’
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