Resistance leader slams spike in Iran’s executions of dissidents: 1,000 put to death in 2024

A top Iranian resistance leader is warning there has been an uptick in executions inside the country since President Masoud Pezeshkian took over, undercutting the notion that Tehran’s new leader is a moderate.

In all, 1,000 Iranians were put to death in 2024, nearly 70 percent of them since Pezeshkian took over mid-year, according to Ali Safavi, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Ali Safavi, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

"[People] were executed in 86 different prisons," Safavi told the John Solomon Reports podcast. "There were 34 women [and] seven juveniles who were apprehended at the time that were sentenced to death at the time of their offense."

Last year, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in the mountainous area near Iran’s border with Azerbaijan. Following Raisi's death, Pezeshkian became the president. 

Citizens of Iran have been protesting the government for years and have faced severe consequences as a result.

12 year sentence for drawing cartoons

In June of this year, Tehran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced an Iranian woman to 12 years and 9 months in prison for sketching satirical cartoons of Iranian lawmakers. In 2022, protests erupted worldwide over the fatal beating of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by the Iranian regime's "morality police" for not complying with strict rules regarding hijabs.

Safavi said that public hangings have been the highest they've been in the past three decades under the current regime.

"The executions in Iran and imprisonments serve as a political tool to intimidate and terrorize the public and prevent them from coming to the streets and engaging in uprisings like the ones we have seen in 2022," he said.

He added that there were multiple hangings on New Year's Day.

"Engaging with this regime basically has given it a sense of impunity that it can continue these atrocities without any repercussions whatsoever," Safavi said. 

He said that protesters have been becoming very frequent in cities all over the country. "There were huge demonstrations in the Tehran bazaar and in several other cities where people were chanting anti government slogans.....nurses, women, retirees, students, factory workers....people from all walks of life are in the streets every day," he said. 

On top of all the chaos and disruption, Safavi said that Iran's economy has also suffered a big blow under Pezeshkian's leadership. 

"The value of the Iranian official currency has dipped to 81,000 to 10,000 riyals to $1, which is remarkably low....the lowest it has ever been in the past 45 years," he said.