Today is the World Day Against the Death Penalty. Over the past 11 days, I have posted daily on death penalty cases my mandate has raised with the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most executions in Iran are for qisas or drug offences, and these are the cases that rarely reach my mandate. Qisas accounts for roughly half of all executions. Under it, whether a person lives or dies rests largely with the victim’s family and on whether the accused can pay diya (Day 5). Drug offences account for most of the rest. Those executed are mostly couriers driven by poverty, convicted of offences that do not meet the ‘most serious crimes’ threshold under international human rights law (Day 6). For ethnic and religious minorities, the discrimination they face in daily life, from restrictions on language to economic exclusion, carries through into the criminal justice process. It shapes arrest, trial and sentencing, including in capital cases (Day 3). Gender intersects with ethnicity, religion, political activity and other aspects of identity to produce distinct forms of discrimination and abuse, including gendered violence in detention (Day 2). The death penalty is also used against those who challenge the State and its policies. People who took part in protests, and even those who helped the injured, have been sentenced to death, often after being labelled spies or terrorists (Day 10). Under the 2025 Espionage Law, even a photograph of a bombed building can become part of a capital case (Day 4). Children are not spared either. People continue to face execution for acts allegedly committed when they were under 18 (Day 1). In some of these cases, death sentences are handed down after trials lasting only hours, often on the basis of confessions broadcast before trial, while lawyers are obstructed or punished (Day 8). Some executions are carried out in public, turning death into a spectacle and forcing families and onlookers to watch (Day 7). Even after an execution, families may be denied their loved one's body, restricted in how they mourn, and intimidated into silence (Day 9). Calls for abolition are coming from within Iranian society. Families keep vigil, and people stayed in Alikhani Square through the night to try to stop a public execution. Opposition to the death penalty also comes from inside Iran’s prisons. For more than two years and 8 months, prisoners have gone on hunger strike every Tuesday under the ‘No to Execution Tuesdays’ campaign, which now spans in at least 66 prisons. Earlier this year, a 16-day strike at Ghezel Hesar Prison won a suspension of drug-related executions there, if only temporarily. I am grateful to the families who entrusted my mandate with their loved ones' stories, often at great personal risk, and to the civil society organisations and journalists who bring these cases to light despite facing threats themselves. The Iranian authorities have responded to many of my communications. I welcome continued dialogue, including on the ongoing revision of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which offers a concrete opportunity to significantly restrict the death penalty for drug offences, and other changes that can bring its practice closer to international human rights standards. In 2026, at least 600 people, and possibly as many as 1,000, are reported to have been executed. The need for a moratorium pending abolition has never been greater. I urge the authorities to establish an official moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. - Day 0 Countdown to the World Day Against the Death Penalty: nitter.siddz.com/drmaisato/status/21046… - Day 1 Children: nitter.siddz.com/drmaisato/status/21049… - Day 2 Women: nitter.siddz.com/drmaisato/status/21053… - Day 3 Minorities: nitter.siddz.com/drmaisato/status/21056… - Day 4 Security-related charges: nitter.siddz.com/drmaisato/status/21059… - Day 5 Qisas: nitter.siddz.com/drmaisato/status/21063… - Day 6: Drugs: nitter.siddz.com/drmaisato/status/21066… - Day 7 Public executions: nitter.siddz.com/drmaisato/status/21070… - Day 8 Due process: nitter.siddz.com/drmaisato/status/21073… - Day 9 Families: nitter.siddz.com/drmaisato/status/21077… - Day 10 Protests: nitter.siddz.com/drmaisato/status/21080… - Day 11 Press release with other UN experts: nitter.siddz.com/drmaisato/status/21085…