Behind a wall of state censorship and unannounced dawn hangings, the clerical regime in Iran has escalated its use of the gallows to silence a restless society. New monthly monitoring data for October 2026 confirms that Iranian authorities executed at least 96 prisoners in a single month. Even more alarming is the secrecy surrounding the killings: 78 of those executions—roughly 81 percent of the monthly total—were carried out without any official announcement by the judiciary or state media.
Among the victims executed in October were three demonstrators detained during the January 2026 nationwide uprising—Siavash Jamshidi Kheirabadi, Alireza Sepahi, and Alireza Raisi—alongside at least one woman whose execution was concealed from the public. Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of political prisoner Manouchehr Fallah in Lakan Prison in Rasht, referring his case for immediate implementation after a retrial presided over by the father of the original sentencing judge.
The War on Women: 54 Executed in a Single Year
Nowhere is the structural violence of Iran's judicial apparatus clearer than in its war on women. Iran's ruling regime remains the world's leading executioner of women, having put to death at least 54 women between October 2025 and October 2026—including 29 women since the start of 2026 alone. Since Masoud Pezeshkian took office, more than 4,100 prisoners, including 117 women, have been sent to the gallows.
A closer examination of the women executed in 2026 reveals that the vast majority were victims of entrenched legal discrimination, domestic violence, child marriage, and extreme poverty long before they ever stood before a judge:
Marzieh Nayyeri: Forced by family pressure into marriage at age 17 to an abusive husband, Marzieh acted in self-defense at age 18 when her husband and an associate attempted to sexually assault her. Despite her repeated testimony that she acted solely to protect her life and bodily integrity, the court rejected her plea of self-defense and sent her to the gallows.
Afsaneh Zandabadi: Only 22 years old at the time of her execution, Afsaneh had been denied an education and subjected to years of severe abuse and sexual violence from childhood by her stepfather, who then forced her into transporting narcotics. While her abuser faced zero legal consequences and IRGC-linked trafficking networks operate with impunity, the courts executed Afsaneh.
Mothers Torn From Their Children: At least eight of the women executed in 2026 were mothers whose deaths left young children orphaned. Among them were 28-year-old Asma Zarei, who gave birth to her child behind bars and was executed when her baby was just two years old; Setayesh Mohammadpour, hanged while her eight- and eleven-year-old children waited for her return; and Rezvan Asgharzadeh, a 45-year-old mother of six whose name was abruptly removed from a clemency list shortly before she was put to death.
Breaking the Silence of the Gallows
The regime relies on secret executions and communication blackouts to prevent domestic outrage and international intervention. When 81 percent of hangings are hidden from public view, every verified name and every shared report becomes an act of resistance against state erasure.
