Iranian authorities have executed at least 29 people linked to recent protests in a five-month campaign of unlawful killings, Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center said on Thursday, with several of the dead aged just 18 or 19. Between March 18 and the end of August 2026, officials announced the hangings of protesters arrested during the December 2025–January 2026 unrest.
Executions and Charges
Five of the executions took place in public. Overall, at least 59 men were put to death on politically motivated national security charges after grossly unfair trials in the same period. Three of those executed were connected to the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.
In 16 of the 29 protest-related cases, authorities made no allegation of killing. Defendants were convicted of vague charges such as “waging war against God” or “corruption on earth” for acts including damaging public property, throwing stones or entering government buildings. At least eight were sentenced under a 2025 espionage law that expanded capital offences and shortened procedural deadlines.
Unfair Trials and Torture
Bahar Saba, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “Day after day, Iran’s authorities are sending protesters, including teenagers, to the gallows based on torture-tainted ‘confessions’ and following grossly unfair proceedings that are too short to establish a defendant’s guilt even for a minor offence, let alone for capital charges.
“The authorities’ message is clearly that protests will be met with brutality, whether through bullets on the streets or public executions following sham trials.”
Proceedings typically lasted between five weeks and eight months from arrest to execution. Saleh Mohammadi, a 19-year-old wrestling champion, was hanged roughly five weeks after his arrest. Amir Hossein Hatami, 18, was executed 84 days after being detained. Sasan Azadvar Jonaqani, a 21-year-old karate champion, was arrested, convicted and hanged in under four months for allegedly breaking windows of a police bus with stones and a baton.
Documented Abuse and Broader Impact
Human Rights Watch and the Boroumand Center documented patterns of torture, including beatings, electric shocks, mock executions and threats of rape, used to extract confessions. Defendants were routinely denied independent lawyers of their choice. Revolutionary courts, which lack independence, relied heavily on these coerced statements and unsubstantiated intelligence reports.
Scores more remain at imminent risk. Amnesty International identified 60 people, including three children, facing execution in connection with the protests as of late July. Activist networks have named more than 60 sentenced to death, with over 70 protesters alone at risk in Isfahan prison. The true number is believed to be higher amid internet blackouts and a climate of fear.
The rise in political hangings coincides with a sharp overall increase in executions. The Boroumand Center recorded at least 2,113 in 2025, the highest annual figure since the late 1980s. Officials have labelled the dead as “ground troops of a US-Israeli coup” and linked them to military strikes on Iran earlier this year. United Nations member states must urgently press Tehran to halt all executions and impose a moratorium leading to abolition of the death penalty, the groups said.
