Overview
- On August 12 countries from Canada to the United Kingdom and the EU foreign policy chief issued a joint statement that condemned Iran's executions and urged an immediate end to the death penalty for protesters.
- The UN rights chief said the death penalty is being used to "instil fear" and reported at least 56 executions since March 19 with more than 100 people at risk, citing closed hearings, rapid trials, coerced confessions and other due‑process failings.
- Human‑rights groups provide wider tallies that show hundreds of executions this year and thousands in 2025, with Amnesty reporting more than 2,150 executions last year and Iran Human Rights recording hundreds so far in 2026.
- Tehran rejected the criticism, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accusing critics of hypocrisy and linking the statement to support for Israel, while cases such as photojournalist Yalda Moaiery's 15‑year sentence highlight prosecutions of journalists and activists.
- The diplomatic rebuke follows mass anti‑government protests that began in December 2025 and a wartime security environment after a February 28 escalation, factors that rights groups say have driven a wave of arrests, speedy trials and harsh sentences.