41 Executed in 3 Days: Iran’s Execution Spree Highlights Flawed Trials and Ethnic Targeting

Author: Aamnah Fatima Khan

June 2, 2025

Between May 26 and 28, 2025, Iran executed 41 people in a horrifying increase of state-sanctioned killings, with nearly one execution every two hours, a rate not seen in decades. This increase raises the total number of killings under President Pezeshkian's watch to 1,275, who has been in power since July 2024. This highlighting a system of rule driven by fear of dissent and collapse.

Many of those executed were young, including some in their twenties and thirties, and had been convicted mostly of narcotics charges and homicide. On May 28, 18 executions took place in several jails, including Qazvin, Qom, Isfahan, Ahvaz, Shiraz, and Ghezel Hesar. Kurdish and Arab communities were overrepresented among the sentenced. Alimorad Ranjbaran, 29, and Khodayar Keyfari, a Kurdish man, were killed in Qazvin; Taleb Ahmadpour, an Arab man, in Ahvaz; and two more Kurdish detainees in Kermanshah. These reflect greater racial and ethnic biases, notably against the Baluch, Kurdish, and Arab minorities.

A glaring concern is the lack of transparency and due process. None of the recent executions were publicized in Iranian official media or verified by court authorities, adding to the obscurity surrounding their deaths. Many convictions were the result of flawed trials, including coerced confessions and closed sessions.

The case of Pedram Madani exemplifies judicial inefficiency. Accused of spying for Israel, Madani's death sentence was overturned three times by the Supreme Court, only to be reinstated Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) without adequate legal scrutiny. His mother's public plea, as well as the lobbying of 2023 Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi, underline the emotional and legal desperation surrounding the executions. Human Rights Watch has decried the "horrific execution spree," citing a 75% increase in executions in 2025 compared to the previous year.

International pressure is rising, with human rights organizations calling for a halt. Iran's execution spike reflects not just rising repression but also reveals a judicial system riddled with arbitrariness, prejudice, and opacity.

Glossary

• Adequate – Sufficient or acceptable in quantity or quality.

• Arbitrariness – The quality of being based on random choice or personal urge, rather than any reason or system.

• Baloch – Baloch, a group of tribes speaking the Balochi language, living in the province of Balochistan in Pakistan and also neighboring areas of Iran and Afghanistan. 

• Biases – the action of supporting or opposing a particular person or thing in an unfair way, by allowing personal opinions to influence your judgment. 

• Blatant – Done openly and unashamedly; obvious and offensive.

• Coerced – Persuaded or forced someone to do something by using threats or pressure.

• Confessions – Admissions of guilt or disclosure of something private or secret.

• Convicted – Found guilty of a crime in a court of law.

• Detainees – People held in custody, often for political or security reasons, without trial.

• Due Process – All legal procedures set by courts to ensure fairness, equity, and justice. 

• Execution – The carrying out of a death sentence against a person by the state.

• Exemplifies – Illustrates or demonstrates something clearly by being a typical example of it.

• Flawed – Containing faults or imperfections.

• Glaring – Highly obvious or clear, often in an unpleasant or critical way.

• Gross – Extremely serious or unacceptable, often morally or legally.

• Halt – To stop or bring to a stop.

• Homicide – The deliberate killing of one person by another; murder.

• Judicial Power – the authority to interpret laws and examine a broad range of cases.

• Kurds – Kurds are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syria.

• Lobbying – The act of trying to influence decisions made by officials in the government, often by special interest groups.

• Nobel Laureate – A person or organisation awarded the Nobel Prize is called a Nobel Laureate.

• Obscurity – The state of being unknown, unnoticeable, or unimportant.

• Opacity – Lack of transparency; the quality of being difficult to understand or see through.

• Prejudice – an unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, religion, etc.

• Public plea – An emotional or urgent request made to the general public.

• Publicized – Made widely known or promoted publicly.

• Reinstated – Restored to a former position or condition.

• Repression – The act of defeating or overcoming someone or something by force.

• Riddled – Full of something undesirable, such as errors or inconsistencies.

• Scrutiny – Critical observation or examination.

• Spike – A sharp increase or rise, often sudden and dramatic.

• Spree – A sudden outburst or period of unrestrained activity, often involving violence or excess.

• State-sanctioned – Authorized or permitted by the government.

• Surge – A sudden and great increase.

• Systematic – Done or acting according to a fixed plan or system.

• Transparency – The quality of being open, honest, and easy to understand or scrutinize.

Sources

1. https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/statement-human-rights/irans-clerical-regime-executes-41-people-over-three-days-may-26-28-2025/ 

2. https://hengaw.net/en/news/2025/05/article-144

3. https://iranhr.net/en/articles/7622/ 

4. https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-execution-madani-spying-for-israel/33427419.html 

5. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/irans-revolutionary-guards