Iran sentenced 14 political prisoners to death in November and executed at least 135 convicts, the second-highest monthly total in 2024, rights groups say, condemning capital punishment as means to quell dissent.

The executions included 127 men, 4 women, and a juvenile, with 11 Afghan nationals among those put to death, US-based rights group Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on Monday. Additionally, 37 individuals were sentenced to death, including 68 for drug-related offenses.

Fourteen fresh death sentences in political cases last month also indicated the ruling theocracy was determined to make a strong example of participants in the Woman, Life, Freedom protests which began in 2022.

166 people were executed in October in the deadliest month of 2024 so far, rights groups say.

Of those executed in November, one man was executed after surviving a previous execution in April.

On November 13, Iran put Ahmad Alizadeh to death in a prison outside Tehran for the second time on a murder charge. According to Oslo-based Iran Human Rights, Alizadeh, who was charged with murder, had previously been hanged for 28 seconds but was resuscitated at the plaintiffs' request.

Earlier in the month, Iran executed the first member of its Jewish minority in 30 years, Arvin Ghahremani, for the alleged murder of another man following a monetary dispute.

Woman Life Freedom activists sentenced to death

Six political prisoners were sentenced to death by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court in a joint case on charges of "armed rebellion" for allegedly belonging to "anti-regime groups," HRANA reported Monday.

The defendants — Akbar Daneshvar Kar, Mohammad Taghavi Sang-Dehi, Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghobadi Bistoni, Vahid Bani-Amerian, and Abolhassan Montazer — were sentenced to death.

In the same case, two other prisoners — Ali and Mojtaba Taghavi Sang-Dehi — were sentenced to prison, bringing the total prison term for all eight defendants to 54 years, along with 20 years of exile.

In northeastern Iran, prisoner Mohammad Mehdi-S was sentenced to death for allegedly fatally stabbing Basij member Rasoul Doost-Mohammadi during the 2022 protests in the city of Mashhad, HRANA said.

Mehdi-S, whose full name has not been disclosed, denied the charges. The court also sentenced him to 74 lashes, payment of blood money and two-and-a-half years in prison for possessing explosives.

Iran’s 2022 protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022, led to the detention of thousands.

In a high profile case in mid-November this year, Tehran’s Criminal Court sentenced six individuals connected to the 2022 protests in the Ekbatan neighborhood to death.

The defendants — Milad Armoon, Alireza Kafaei, Amir Mohammad Khosheghbal, Navid Najaran, Hossein Nemati, and Alireza Barmarzpournak — were accused of allegedly participating in the killing of Basij member Arman Ali Verdi during the Women Life Freedom uprising.

Similarly, political prisoner Mehrab Abdollahzadeh has been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court in Urmia, Hengaw reported on Friday.

The rights group said the sentence stems from allegations linking Abdollahzadeh to the killing of another Basij member during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests and added that he was tortured during his detention.

Women's rights activist Varisheh Moradi was also sentenced to death by Tehran's Revolutionary Court on charges of "armed rebellion." The court cited her alleged affiliation with the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) as the basis for the sentence.

Rights groups have condemned the judicial process in these cases, citing a lack of due process, confessions coerced through torture and the targeting of political prisoners and protesters.

November's high number of executions and death penalties underscores the ongoing repercussions of the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests and authorities' efforts to silence dissent through capital punishment.

This surge in executions is part of a broader trend. Last year, Iran executed at least 853 individuals, marking the highest number in eight years according to Amnesty International.