Worldwide Increase
State-sanctioned executions reached a 44-year high in 2025, according to Amnesty International. A total of 2,707 people were killed in 17 countries, a 78% increase from the 1,518 executions recorded the previous year. These executions were related to criminal charges ranging from drug offenses to political dissidence.
Iran's Role
Iran accounted for the majority of executions, putting 2,159 people to death. This is more than double the number of executions in 2024. Amnesty International reported in September that Iran had already reached its highest number of executions in 15 years. The organization attributes the surge partly to the country's increased use of the death penalty "as a tool of state repression and to crush dissent" since 2022.
Political Prisoners in Iran
Since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, the UN has verified the execution of at least 32 political prisoners. Amnesty International reports that 45 executions on politically motivated charges took place across the whole of 2025. The UN Human Rights Office has warned that the death penalty is increasingly being used to silence political dissent. Nassim Papayianni of Amnesty International said that the Iranian government is using the death penalty "to instil fear among the population, and essentially crush and stifle any dissent that there might be."
U.S. Executions Nearly Double
The U.S. saw a sharp increase in prisoner executions, with 47 across 11 states last year, up from 25 in 2024. The U.S. is the only country in the Americas to have carried out criminal executions last year, according to Amnesty International. The death penalty in the U.S. applies only to murder or treason cases.
Florida Leads U.S. Executions
Florida led the U.S. with 19 executions. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has championed the death penalty, hailing it as a "strong deterrent" for crime. In 2023, he lowered Florida's legal threshold for the death penalty, eliminating the requirement for a jury to unanimously recommend the punishment. Justin Mazzola, deputy director for research at Amnesty International, says the "huge spike" in U.S. executions is "tied specifically to what was happening in Florida."
Declining Support in the U.S.
Despite the increase in executions, support for capital punishment in the U.S. is at a five-decade low. According to October polling data from Gallup, 52% of Americans support capital punishment. Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said that the majority of U.S. juries are rejecting death sentences for a variety of reasons, citing concerns of fairness and wrongful conviction.
Secret Executions
While some executions are announced publicly, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office told the BBC it was concerned others were happening in secret. Kaveh Kermanshahi of the Kurdistan Human Rights Network said that the regime is attempting to restore authority after its image was damaged by the January uprising and the war. He said that the government is attempting, through intensified repression and an increase in executions, to stage a display of power.
Victims' Stories
Erfan Shakourzadeh, a 29-year-old master's student in aerospace engineering, was hanged on May 11. Hengaw human rights organization published a note they say he wrote before his death: "I was arrested on fabricated espionage charges and, after eight and a half months of torture and solitary confinement, was forced into a false confession. Do not let another innocent life be taken in silence."
