Public Hangings Surge in Iran: A Chilling Display

Iran’s execution machinery reached a shocking crescendo in 2025, with over 1,000 people put to death—including multiple public hangings for rape convictions that reveal the regime’s brutal calculus of terror and control.

Story Highlights

Iran executed over 1,000 people in 2025, an 86% increase from the previous year
Mohammad Zakiri was publicly hanged on December 2, 2025, for raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl
Public executions surged to eight in October 2025 alone, the highest rate in 15-20 years
Human rights groups document that 94% of executions remain secret, masking the true scope of state killings

Public Spectacles of State Violence

Mohammad Zakiri met his end at dawn on December 2, 2025, swinging from a gallows at Borazjan Cemetery as crowds gathered to witness the state’s ultimate punishment. The 2018 arrest for raping and killing an eight-year-old girl in Goldasht village had taken seven years to wind through Iran’s judicial machinery before culminating in this public display of retribution.

Iran executes two men convicted of rapehttps://t.co/2uEcDFLkzq

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) December 23, 2025

The Zakiri execution represents just one thread in Iran’s accelerating web of capital punishment. Two weeks earlier, another unnamed man faced public execution in Bastam, Semnan Province, for raping two women—one pregnant. The judiciary’s official news agency emphasized the convict had used “coercion and threats” against his victims, justifying the public nature of his death.

The Surge Behind the Numbers

The statistics paint a disturbing picture of Iran’s 2025 execution spree. Human rights organizations documented at least 1,537 executions between October 2024 and October 2025, with 241 occurring in October 2025 alone. This represents the highest monthly execution rate Iran has sustained in 15 to 20 years, averaging four deaths per day.

These figures likely undercount the true carnage. Over 94% of Iran’s executions occur in secret, according to human rights monitors. The regime’s transparency extends only to cases deemed suitable for public deterrence—rape, murder, and crimes that generate community outrage sufficient to justify the spectacle.

Justice or Political Theater

The January 2025 executions of Ali Atin, 28, and Reza Seyyedi, 48, in Mahabad Prison illustrate how Iran weaponizes capital punishment against dissent. Both men faced charges of “gang rape” following their 2021 arrests, which came after public protests in Sardasht demanded action against sexual violence. The timing suggests these executions served dual purposes—addressing community anger while eliminating potential symbols of resistance.

Iran’s Supreme Court rubber-stamps these death sentences following what officials describe as “precise review.” Yet human rights groups consistently document unfair trials, forced confessions, and the systematic targeting of ethnic minorities and political dissidents through the capital punishment system. The regime’s own statistics reveal the lie in their deterrence claims—88 public executions between 2011 and 2023 failed to reduce violent crime rates.

The Failure of Fear

Mohammad Akbari, Semnan Province’s Chief Justice, defended the November public execution as necessary given the “heinous nature” of the crimes. This reasoning echoes throughout Iran’s judicial system, which operates under Islamic law prescribing death for zina—a category encompassing adultery, fornication, and rape. The public nature of select executions transforms legal punishment into political messaging.

Yet the evidence contradicts the deterrence narrative. Despite decades of public hangings and record execution rates, sexual violence persists across Iranian society. The regime’s answer involves more executions, more spectacle, and more state-sanctioned killing—a cycle that traumatizes communities while failing to protect potential victims. International observers note that Iran trails only China in total executions, a distinction that isolates the Islamic Republic further from civilized nations.