Quick Summary
- 1Iran's judiciary chief has ordered public trials and rapid executions for protesters following 18 days of nationwide demonstrations.
- 2Execution numbers more than doubled in 2025 to 2,063, the highest in 11 years according to human rights monitors.
- 3A 26-year-old protester faces imminent hanging after a two-day trial, while authorities broadcast coerced confessions on state television.
- 4The regime has killed over 2,500 protesters and imprisoned 18,000 while cutting internet and phone services nationwide.
Rapid Escalation
Iran's judicial system has pivoted to summary justice as nationwide protests enter their third week. In a televised address, the country's top judge ordered that protesters face public trials and immediate execution by hanging.
The directive from Supreme Court Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei marks a dramatic intensification of the regime's response to demonstrations that have now engulfed all 31 provinces. With over 2,500 people killed and 18,000 imprisoned, authorities are abandoning any pretense of due process.
"If there is a delay of two or three months, the impact will not be the same. What needs to be done, must be done quickly."
This shift toward instant capital punishment represents the regime's most brutal tactic yet in its campaign to crush dissent.
Execution Surge
The current crackdown unfolds against a backdrop of unprecedented state killings. According to human rights monitors, Iran executed 2,063 people during 2025—a staggering 106% increase over 2024.
This figure represents the highest execution rate in eleven years, continuing a troubling upward trend since 2020. The numbers reveal:
- 1,807 men executed in 2025
- 61 women executed in 2025
- Majority of charges involve homicide or drug offenses
Human rights organizations note that the real number is likely higher due to the regime's systematic lack of transparency. The Islamic Republic consistently ranks among the world's top five executioners, per capita.
Against this grim backdrop, the judiciary's new orders for public hangings signal an intent to weaponize executions as political theater.
"If there is a delay of two or three months, the impact will not be the same. What needs to be done, must be done quickly."— Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, Chief Justice of Iran
The Machinery of Fear
The regime's multi-pronged repression extends far beyond the gallows. State television has broadcast nearly 100 coerced confessions in recent days, extracted through documented physical and psychological torture.
These forced broadcasts follow a predictable propaganda formula: detainees express remorse, implicate foreign powers, and confess to fabricated crimes. Human rights groups confirm that confessions routinely include claims of ties to the United States and Israel.
One chilling case illustrates the breakneck speed of this new judicial machinery:
- Erfan Soltani, age 26, arrested on Thursday
- Convicted and sentenced to hang within 48 hours
- Execution scheduled for Wednesday by hanging
- Family reports no meaningful legal defense
Beyond the courtroom, authorities have deployed comprehensive communication blackouts, severing internet and mobile networks nationwide to prevent protest coordination and isolate demonstrators from the outside world.
Blanket Criminalization
Iran's Justice Minister Amin Hossein Rahimi has announced that the regime will treat all protesters as criminals retroactively. Any citizen who stepped onto the streets since demonstrations began will face prosecution.
This extraordinary decree effectively criminalizes peaceful assembly and guarantees that thousands more will be swept into the prison system. Combined with the judiciary's orders for public trials, it creates a rubber-stamp process for mass convictions.
The regime's desperation is evident in its escalating brutality:
- Live ammunition deployed against unarmed crowds
- Internet and phone blackouts across the nation
- Public trials designed for maximum intimidation
- Accelerated execution schedules
These measures reveal a government terrified of its own population, willing to sacrifice any remaining international credibility to maintain control through raw force.
International Context
The timing of this judicial crackdown coincides with heightened regional tensions. Iran has reportedly warned neighboring countries that it will target U.S. military bases if attacked by the incoming American administration.
These threats underscore the precarious geopolitical moment in which the internal repression is occurring. The regime appears to be consolidating its position both domestically and regionally, betting that international condemnation will not translate into concrete action.
Human rights organizations face severe restrictions in documenting abuses, with the regime systematically denying access to prisons and courtrooms. The Agência de Notícias de Ativistas de Direitos Humanos (HRANA) continues to operate from exile, relying on smuggled information and witness testimony.
Meanwhile, the oil-rich nation's strategic importance ensures that global powers remain deeply invested in its stability, even as its government escalates violence against its own people.
Looking Ahead
Iran stands at a critical inflection point where the regime has abandoned all restraint in its response to popular dissent. The combination of public trials, accelerated executions, and total communication blackouts represents a calculated strategy to terrorize the population into submission.
The human cost continues to mount with each passing day. Families await news of disappeared loved ones, while the judiciary operates a parallel system of justice that prioritizes speed over truth and fear over fairness.
What began as protests over specific grievances has transformed into a fundamental confrontation between an authoritarian state and its people. The regime's willingness to deploy public hangings as a tool of political control suggests that the coming weeks will test both the resilience of Iranian civil society and the limits of international tolerance for state-sponsored atrocities.
The world watches as Iran's two-thousand-year-old civilization grapples with a modern tyranny that has learned to weaponize the machinery of death itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei has ordered that all trials for protesters be conducted publicly and rapidly. He explicitly stated that delays in judicial proceedings would diminish their deterrent effect, calling for immediate action against those arrested during demonstrations.
Human rights monitors documented 2,063 executions in 2025, more than double the previous year's figure. This represents the highest number of state killings in Iran in eleven years and places the country among the world's top five executioners per capita.
The regime employs a multi-pronged approach including lethal force against demonstrators, mass arrests exceeding 18,000 people, nationwide internet and phone blackouts, coerced confessions broadcast on state television, and now public trials with accelerated death sentences.
More than 2,500 people have been killed since demonstrations began 18 days ago across Iran's 31 provinces. The protests have also resulted in 18,000 arrests, with the Justice Minister declaring that anyone who participated will be considered a criminal.
