Denouncing the Plague of Executions in Iran

The thousands of members of “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” from across Israel, the USA, and the world unequivocally denounce Iran for its monstrous, nearly daily employment of state-sponsored murder in the form of executions. Since its founding in 2020, L’chaim – of which this author is a co-founder – has staunchly opposed executions in the United States. In recent years, L’chaim members have publicly advocated against Israel’s threat of reigniting the same “machinery of death.” In light of L’chaim’s increasing public presence, some critics have questioned why L’chaim has not done more to specifically renounce Iran for its consistent role as a world leader in executions. Let it be known that L’chaim has indeed made many statements against the Iranian regime, as well as all nations that employ the medieval form of torture and blatant human rights violation that is capital punishment.  Since its inception, L’chaim has publicly demanded increased press coverage of executions across the world, including in Iran. Below is a selected review of some of that advocacy.

In the fall of 2023, the 90th week of the “Tuesdays Against Execution” campaign featured a statement from L’chaim in solidarity with the hunger strike of 1,500 prisoners convicted of drug-related charges and facing possible execution. The following year, in May of 2024, L’chaim issued a formal statement in the Times of Israel in response to the execution of Nethanel ben Tziona Ghahremani, a 20-year-old Iranian Jew executed for an act of self-defense. In 2025, L’chaim spoke out once again against the plague of executions that the Iranian regime regularly imposes on its citizens. In the latter statement, L’chaim drew attention to “the mortal danger that Iranian mullahs have also posed for their own citizens through the use of politically motivated capital punishment, including brutal public hangings, and other barbaric ‘criminal justice’ practices.”

Earlier this year in 2026 L’chaim published an essay regarding the two death penalty laws that the Israeli government passed. That piece, entitled “The Shameful Company of Global Executioners that Israel now Keeps,” included the following two paragraphs about Iran:

“Among nations that openly execute human beings, Iran often leads the world. In 2025, Iran executed at least 2,159 people—more than double the previous year’s total. This total represents the highest number of recorded executions in the country since 1989. The staggering surge accounts for the vast majority of a global spike in state-sanctioned killings, and has drawn severe condemnation from the United Nations and human rights organizations.

A renewed use of the death penalty for drug-related offenses and sweeping national security charges largely drove the massive increase. At least 795 people were executed for drug-related offenses, often following grossly unfair trials in Revolutionary Courts. Executions tied to politically motivated charges spiked significantly, with dozens executed under vague laws like “armed rebellion,” “corruption on earth,” and “enmity against God.” Ethnic minorities and migrants were disproportionately impacted. For example, at least 84 Afghan nationals were executed. Iranian authorities officially announced fewer than 7% of these executions. At least 11 executions were carried out in public spaces, often in front of crowds that included children.”

That same essay also detailed execution practices in China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Yemen, the United States, Singapore, Somalia, Egypt, Japan, and as perpetrated by Hamas. Let there be no doubt: L’chaim stands against executions in every nation worldwide.

In addition to these periodic essays, L’chaim regularly posts across all major forms of social media about daily executions in Iran. As of this writing, L’chaim widely shared the October 2026 monthly report of Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM). It also posted about Iran’s November 3 execution of Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi, who shared not only the same name, but also the same age of twenty, and who were arrested and sentenced to death for protesting against the regime in January 2026. It is a blatant lie for anyone to claim that L’chaim ignores the ongoing horrors that transpire in Iran, whose use of the death penalty is one of the most egregious across the globe.

For many reasons that L’chaim has delineated time and again over the years, more than 70% of the nations of the world have recognized the inviolability of the human right to life and have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Twenty-first-century Judaism must reflect this evolution and become a Tree of Life whose branches extend as a model across our world. And so, without exception for both the innocent and the guilty – including convicted Hamas terrorists – L’chaim shall continue to chant, firmly, L’chaim: To Life!

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Cantor Michael J. Zoosman, MSM

Jewish Prison Chaplain

Co-Founder: L’chaim: Jews Against the Death Penalty

Advisory Committee Member: Death Penalty Action