Iran: UN Experts Call for an Immediate Halt to Executions

Summary

On 9 October 2026, in Geneva, a group of United Nations human rights experts called on the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately halt all executions. The experts warned that Iran is among a shrinking group of States that still carry out executions and described it as by far the most prolific per head of population. Their statement came one day before the World Day Against the Death Penalty, observed each year on 10 October.

This report summarizes the experts' public statement, as published by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, and places it in the context of recent findings presented to the UN Human Rights Council.

Background: Protests and the Fact Finding Mission

The statement refers to protests that began in Iran on 28 December 2025. According to the experts, security forces killed thousands of protesters in January 2026, conduct that the Independent International Fact Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran found amounted to crimes against humanity. The Mission's report to the Human Rights Council, issued in advance form in September 2026 for the Council's sixty third session, consolidates its findings on violations connected to those protests.

The experts stated that no one arrested over the protests should be executed, regardless of the accusations brought against them. They said the cases brought to their attention were marked by procedural unfairness and underlying gross violations, including torture, enforced disappearances, sexual violence, coerced confessions and denial of access to lawyers of the detainees' choosing, especially during investigation. In their view, these concerns alone should rule out execution.

Use of the Death Penalty Against Dissent

The experts said that Iran's death penalty is used to silence dissent, with broadly defined national security offences recasting peaceful activity as a threat. They added that grievances left unaddressed tend to resurface, and that executions do not end dissent but breed the next wave of it.

Homicide, Drug Offences and Qisas

While public attention often focuses on security cases, the experts noted that most executions in Iran are carried out for homicide, under the principle of qisas, or retribution in kind, and for drug related offences. They said those executed for drug offences appear to be overwhelmingly low level couriers driven by hardship, many from marginalised ethnic minorities, rather than those at the top of the trade.

The experts further explained that qisas removes responsibility from judges and places decisions over life and death in the hands of victims' families, where the ability to pay diya, or blood money, can decide who lives. They described this system as deeply gendered. According to the statement, women unable to afford diya are executed for killing abusive husbands, often after child marriage and years of violence, in a country where women lack legal protection from domestic violence.

Capital Offences Linked to Belief and Identity

The statement also noted that consensual same sex acts and religious offences, such as apostasy, remain punishable by death in Iran. The experts said that as long as these laws exist, people cannot freely hold, change or leave a religion or belief, or live openly according to their sexual orientation, without fear.

The Experts' Recommendations

The experts urged the Iranian authorities to take three steps. First, establish an immediate moratorium on executions as a first step toward abolition. Second, commute all death sentences. Third, review every case against fair trial standards. They said a moratorium would show the people of Iran that the State's use of lethal force can end.

Who Issued the Statement

The statement was endorsed by a wide range of UN Special Procedures mandate holders. They include Mai Sato, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran; Morris Tidball Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Nazila Ghanea, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; Margaret Satterthwaite, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; and Pau Pérez Sales, Special Rapporteur on torture. Members of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls also joined, along with several other experts.

Taskforce Note

The Global HR Taskforce will continue to monitor developments concerning the use of the death penalty in Iran, including protest related cases and the follow up to the Fact Finding Mission's findings. Sources: statement of UN experts, Geneva, 9 October 2026, published by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Report of the Independent International Fact Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, A/HRC/63/61, advance unedited version, 14 September 2026.