Protesters and dissidents at risk of execution
Since the US-Israeli unlawful attacks on Iran began on 28 February 2026, Iranian authorities have arbitrarily executed at least 36 individuals sentenced to death after being convicted of politically-motivated charges following grossly unfair trials. At least 78 protesters, dissidents and others with real or perceived links to banned opposition groups are under sentence of death and at risk of execution. They include 41 people arrested in relation to the January 2026 protests. At least five of them were children at the time of the alleged offence. Fears of further executions are heightened as Iranian authorities continue to weaponize the death penalty to repress dissent and senior officials call for expedited proceedings and «harsh» penalties against those arrested since the war started.
Since 28 February 2026, authorities have arrested thousands of individuals including protesters, dissidents, journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders, and members of ethnic and religious minorities. Consistent with long-standing patterns, authorities have labelled them as «traitors» or «enemy collaborators». Senior officials, including Gholamhossein Mohseni Eje’i, the head of judiciary, have called for expedited trials and swift implementation of punishments, including executions. On 30 April 2026, in statements shared by state-affiliated media, Gholamhossein Mohseni Eje’i refused global calls to halt executions.
According to information available to Amnesty International, including from primary sources, human rights defenders, journalists based outside of Iran and others with access to information in Iran, at least 78 people are under sentence of death and at grave risk of execution on politically-motivated charges. They include 41 people arrested in connection to the January 2026 protests: Abdolreza Fathi, Abolfazl Hashemian, Abdolfazl Karimi, Abolfazl Salehi Siavashani, Ali Pishevarzadeh, Amir Mohammad Zare, Behrouz Zamaninejad, Bita Hemmati, Daniel Harouni, Davoud Aminzadeh, Ehsan Hosseinipour Hessarlou, Erfan Amiri, Hamidreza Fathi, Hamidreza Sabet-Ray, Hossein Ghaleh Beigi, Javad Talebpour, Kourosh Zamaninejad, Majid Nasiri, Mansour Jafari, Maryam Hodavand, Masih Abbaskhani Davanlou, Matin Mohammadi, Mehdi Eskanadari, Mobin Soltani, Mohammadreza Majidi-Asl, Mohamadreza Tabari, Mohammad Abdollahpour, Mohammad (Babak) Naghizadeh, Moslem Heidari, Navid Shirani, Pejman Haghighian, Ramezan Asadi, Reza Hassanlou, Reza Moazeni, Saeed Zarei Kordshouli, Shahab Dadkhah, Shahab Zohdi, Shahin Soleimani, Yaser Mokhtari and Yaser Rajaifa and another person whose name is not known. Among those under sentence of death are seven people arrested in connection to the 2022 Woman Life Freedom uprising, namely: Armin Nourmohammadi, Farshid Hassanzehi, Fazel Bahramian, Mohammad Faraji, Mohammad Darvish Narouie, Mohsen Eslamkhah and Raouf Sheikh Maroufi; and one person in connection to the November 2019 nationwide protests: Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani. Others at risk of execution include 22 people for real or perceived affiliations with banned opposition groups: Abdolghani Shahbakhsh, Abdolrahim Ghanbarzehi Gorgij (Rahim Mirbaloch), Alireza Mardasi (Hamidavi), Eido Shahbakhsh, Ehsan Faridi, Farhad Baranzehi, Farshad Etemadifar, Turkish national Hatem Özdemir, Hossein Shahouzehi, Issa Eid Mohammadi, Karim Khojasteh, Manouchehr Fallah, Mansour Jamali, Massoud Jamei (Bavi), Nasimeh Eslamzehi, Omran Aghal, Peyman (Amin) Farahavar, Reza Abdali, Soleiman Shahbakhsh, Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, Yousef Ahmadi, Younes Bakhshi; and seven others convicted in politically-motivated cases, including spying for Israel, namely: Adham Naroui, Ahmadreza Djalali, Afshin Ghorbani Meishani, Ali Obeidavi, Gholamreza Khani Shekarab, Malek Davarshenas (Mousavi) and Pakhshan Azizi. Of the individuals under sentence of death in the aforementioned list, at least five were children under the age of 18 at the time of the offence, namely: Matin Mohammadi, Erfan Amiri, Mohsen Eslamkhah and Soleiman Shahbakhsh, and Mansour Jafari.
A further 12 individuals are at risk of being re-sentenced to death after their convictions and death sentences were overturned and cases sent back to lower courts for re-examination, including Abbas Derris, Ali (Souran) Ghassemi, Alireza Kafaei, Amir Mohammad Khoush Eghbal, Mehdi Imani, Milad Armoun, Mohammad Mehdi Hosseini, Kaveh Salehi, Pezhman Soltani, Rezgar Beigzadeh Babamiri and Teyfour Salimi Babamiri – all in protest-related cases; and Verisheh Moradi, on allegations of affiliation with Kurdish opposition groups. According to information available to Amnesty International, at least another 23 individuals, who were arrested in connection to the January 2026 protests, have either been threatened with capital offences during interrogations, accused, indicted, undergoing trials or are awaiting verdicts on capital offences. They include Aban (Zeinab) Mousavi, Ahmad Khaksar Taraghi, Ali Azad, Ali Babri, Amirhossein Azarpira, Amir Mohammad Mojalal Choobari, Arman Marefati, Arashia Gheysar-Beigi, Artin Salari, Ashkan Maleki, Borna Naimi, Danial Niazi, Farzad Moradi, Hamed Mollahosseini, Hassan Mousavi, Hossein Mikhak Beiranvand, Ilya Ben-Rashid, Jamal Pourmand, Mahboubeh Shabani, Mehrdad Mohammadinia, Mohsen Abbaskhani Davanloo, Peyvand Naimi and Shervin Bagherian Jabali. Amnesty International is carrying out investigations into further reports of death sentences in politically motivated cases.
Since the 2022 Woman Life Freedom uprising, the Iranian authorities have increasingly used the death penalty as a tool of political repression to intensify fear, arbitrarily executing thousands after grossly unfair trials for a range of offences, including drug-related charges. In 2025, Amnesty International recorded 2,159 executions in Iran. Executions of individuals convicted and sentenced to death on charges of murder and drug-related offences have also taken place since 28 February 2026. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception. The death penalty is a violation of the right to life and it is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
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