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Iran: Further Information: Thousands at risk of execution in Iran
Iran: Further Information: Thousands at risk of execution in Iran
Amnesty International – 10 September 2025
There is an ongoing execution crisis in Iran, which has reached horrific proportions. Thousands of people are at risk of execution after being sentenced to death, including for drug-related offences or overly broad and vaguely worded charges following grossly unfair trials, or are facing investigations or prosecutions on capital charges.Since the 2022 Woman Life Freedohttps://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/0277/2025/en/m uprising, the authorities have weaponized the death penalty as a tool of oppression, with over 800 people executed thus far in 2025 alone.
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Iran: Authorities unleash wave of oppression after hostilities with Israel
Iran: Authorities unleash wave of oppression after hostilities with Israel
Amnesty International September 3, 2025
Iranian authorities are waging a terrifying crackdown under the guise of national security in the aftermath of the June 2025 hostilities with Israel, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. The deepening crisis underscores the urgent need for the international community to pursue concrete criminal accountability measures.
Since 13 June, Iranian authorities have arrested over 20,000 people, including dissidents, human rights defenders, journalists, social media users, families of victims unlawfully killed in nationwide protests and foreign nationals. Others targeted include Afghans, members of the Baluchi and Kurdish ethnic minorities, and members of the Baha’i, Christian and Jewish religious minorities.
“As people struggle to recover from the devastating effects of the armed conflict between Iran and Israel, Iranian authorities are unleashing a terrifying crackdown,” said Sara Hashash, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. “The authorities’ domestic machinery of repression remains unrelenting as they ratchet up already oppressive widespread surveillance, mass arrests and incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence against minorities.”
Security forces have killed people at vehicle checkpoints, including a 3-year-old girl. Officials and state-affiliated media have called for expedited executions, in some cases advocating a repeat of the 1988 prison massacres in which senior officials ordered the summary and extrajudicial execution of thousands of political prisoners. At least nine men have been executed on politically motivated charges and/or accusations of espionage for Israel and an expedited parliamentary bill further expanding the scope of the death penalty is awaiting final approval.
Iranian authorities’ iron fist against a people still reeling from the impact of the war signals a looming human rights catastrophe, in particular for the country’s most marginalized and persecuted groups.
Michael Page, Human Rights Watch
“Since June, the human rights situation in Iran has spiraled deeper into crisis with Iranian authorities scapegoating and targeting dissidents and minorities for a conflict they had nothing to do with,” said Michael Page, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Human Rights Watch. “Iranian authorities’ iron fist against a people still reeling from the impact of the war signals a looming human rights catastrophe, in particular for the country’s most marginalized and persecuted groups.”The Iranian authorities must immediately establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty, release all those arbitrarily detained, and ensure that all others held are protected from enforced disappearance and torture and other ill-treatment. Other countries should investigate and prosecute crimes under international law committed by the Iranian authorities under the principle of universal jurisdiction, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said.
Sweeping arrests and alarming calls for expedited trials and executions
Iran’s intelligence and security forces started to carry out mass arrests within days of the escalation of hostilities with Israel under the guise of national security.Gholamhossein Mohseni Eje’i, the Head of the Judiciary, announced on 22 July that heavy punishments, including the death penalty, awaited people who he said “had cooperated with Israel.” In an 12 August statement, Saeed Montazer Al-Mahdi, spokesperson for the police, announced that about 21,000 people had been arrested.
Senior officials have called for expedited trials and executions for “supporting” or “collaborating” with hostile states. State-affiliated media outlets have advocated for the repetition of 1988 prison massacres, including in a Fars News article, which states that “the mercenary elements…deserve 1988-style executions”.
The judiciary has also announced the formation of special courts to prosecute “traitors and mercenaries.” Parliament has fast-tracked emergency legislation, pending final approval by the Guardian Council, that would expand the use of the death penalty, including for vaguely worded national security charges such “cooperation with hostile governments,” and “espionage”.
Detainees are at serious risk of enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, unfair trials and arbitrary executions, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said.
Intensified repression of ethnic minorities
The authorities have also used the post-conflict climate as justification to further crack down on oppressed ethnic minorities.Amnesty International documented that security forces in Sistan and Baluchestan province unlawfully killed two women from Iran’s oppressed Baluchi ethnic minority during a raid on the village of Gounich on 1 July. A primary source told the organization that agents fired metal pellets and live ammunition at a group of women, killing one, Khan Bibi Bamri, at the scene, and fatally injuring Lali Bamri, who later died in hospital. At least 10 other women were injured.
The agents offered contradictory justifications for the raid, claiming the presence of a “terrorist group”, “Afghans,” and “Israel”. Video footage of the incident reviewed by Amnesty International shows uniformed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) agents pointing firearms toward the women while repeated sounds of gunshots are heard.
On 25 June, state media announced the arrests of more than 700 people across the country for alleged collaboration with Israel, listing Kermanshah and Khuzestan provinces, home to ethnic minorities including Kurdish and Ahwazi Arabs, among those with the largest number of arrests. According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, by 24 July, the authorities had arrested at least 330 people from the Kurdish ethnic minority.
The authorities have also waged a mass arrest and expulsion campaign against Afghans, subjecting them to sweeping arrests and vilifying them in state media.
Crackdown on Baha’i, Christian and Jewish minorities
The authorities have also used the securitized climate to intensify repression of religious minorities.People from the Baha’i minority have been especially targeted through a coordinated state propaganda campaign of incitement to hostility, violence, discrimination and disinformation, falsely accusing Baha’is as spies and collaborators for Israel. In a 28 July statement, the Ministry of Intelligence described the Baha’i faith as a “Zionist sect.” On 18 June, Raja News, affiliated with the IRGC, accused Baha’is of being “proxies and spies of Israel.”
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch’s research found that measures taken against Baha’is include arbitrary arrest and detention, interrogations, raids on their homes, confiscation of property and closure of businesses.
In one example, an informed source told the organizations that the authorities arrested 66-year-old Mehran Dastoornejad during a raid on his home in Marvdasht, Fars province, on 28 June after beating him and confiscating his belongings. The authorities denied the lawyer appointed by his family access to him and information about his charges. He was released on bail from Shiraz prison, Fars province, on 6 August. Another source told Human Rights Watch that married couple Noyan Hejazi and Leva Samimi were arrested in Mazandaran province on 25 June and 7 July, respectively, and denied access to a lawyer until their release on bail on 3 August.
In late June, the Iranian authorities summoned and interrogated at least 35 members of the Jewish community in Shiraz and Tehran about their ties to relatives in Israel and warned against maintaining contact, according to Human Rights in Iran, an organization based outside Iran.
Despite initial state media denials, in late July and early August posts on the Telegram Channel of a Jewish member of parliament, Homayoun Sameyeh Najafabadi, confirmed that members of Iran’s Jewish community were arrested in three provinces and that several were tried before a Revolutionary Court in Tehran on unidentified charges. The posts indicated that those arrested in Tehran had charges related to espionage but that those charges were dropped.
The Ministry of Intelligence in a 28 July statement also accused sectors of the Christian community of being “Mossad mercenaries” with connections to Israel, and state media aired “confessions” of detained Christians on 17 August,raising serious concerns they were extracted under torture. On 24 July, a human rights group outside Iran reported the arrest of at least 54 Christians since 24 June 2025.
Use of unlawful lethal force at security checkpoints
Vehicle checkpoints introduced since the June conflict have become another instrument of repression. The authorities have conducted invasive vehicle and mobile phone searches, arresting people for “collaborating” with Israel, often based merely on social media posts on their phones, according to state media reports. The checkpoints have also been used to arrest “unauthorized” nationals, a discriminatory term authorities use to refer to Afghans.On 1 July, security forces in Tarik Darreh, Hamedan province, shot and killed two individuals and injured a third under the pretext that they were fleeing checkpoints, media reported. In a 2 July statement, Hemat Mohammadi, the head of the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces of Hamedan province, said an investigation was being carried but claimed that security forces fired on a vehicle that attempted to flee. Activists on social media identified the two men killed as Alireza Karbasi and Mehdi Abaei.
Based on state media reports and official statements, on 17 July, security forces in Khomein, Markazi province, also shot and killed four members of a family travelling in two cars, Mohammad Hossein Sheikhi, Mahboubeh Sheikhi,Farzaneh Heydari and a 3-year-old girl, Raha Sheikhi. Vahid Baratizadeh, the governor of Khomein announced that security forces had shot at two “suspicious” cars. On 12 August a government spokesperson announced without any further details that several agents involved in the shooting had been arrested.
Based on statements by officials, there is no evidence that those shot and killed in these incidents posed an imminent threat of death or serious injury. Under international law, the use of potentially lethal force for law enforcement purposes is an extreme measure that should be resorted to only when strictly necessary in order to protect life or prevent serious injury from an imminent threat.
Iran: Authorities unleash wave of oppression after hostilities with Israel
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Iran Carries Out A Public Execution in Larestan
Iran Carries Out A Public Execution in Larestan
Iran HRM Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Iranian authorities on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, publicly executed Sajjad Molaei Hakani in the town of Beyram, Larestan, Fars Province.This was the sixth public execution in Iran in 2025. Semi-official Iranian media outlets, including Tabnak, published videos of the execution online, making the footage easily accessible to children.
Molaei Hakani had been convicted of murdering four members of a family during a robbery.
Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) condemns the execution, stressing that public hangings are a grave violation of human dignity, a form of collective torture, and inflict long-term trauma on children and society. Iran HRM urges the international community to strongly denounce this inhumane practice.
https://x.com/IranHrm/status/1957906464799875230
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Iran: Horrifying secret executions amid mounting political repression
Amnesty International – 28 July 2025
Responding to the arbitrary executions of tortured political dissidents, Behrouz Ehsani, 69, and Mehdi Hassani, 48, in secret in Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj, Alborz province, on 27 July, Kristine Beckerle, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said:
“Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani were executed arbitrarily amid Iran’s horrific execution crisis, which has resulted in nearly 700 people hanged this year. They were executed in secret without notice to them or their families after a grossly unfair trial by a Revolutionary Court. They were denied access to their lawyers for nearly two years before a trial that lasted only five minutes and during which they were not allowed to speak in their own defense. Forced ‘confessions’ extracted through beatings, prolonged solitary confinement and threats to further harm them and their families were used as evidence to convict them.”
“The Iranian authorities have intensified repression at home following the latest escalation of hostilities with Israel in June. Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani had protested against the death penalty from inside prison by going on hunger strike every Tuesday for 18 months as part of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign. Their executions highlight the authorities’ ruthless use of the death penalty as a tool of political repression in times of national crisis to crush dissent and spread fear among the population.”
“Amnesty International renews its call on Iranian authorities to immediately halt all planned executions and establish an official moratorium on all executions with a view to completely abolishing the use of the death penalty.”
“These executions also underscore the need for other states to initiate criminal investigations under the principle of universal jurisdiction against all those suspected of responsibility for torture and other crimes under international law, including senior Iranian officials. The authorities have repeatedly shown that, without concrete accountability measures, they will persist in committing crimes under international law and other grave human rights violations.”
Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani were sentenced to death on overly broad and vaguely defined charges of “armed rebellion against the state” (baghi), “enmity against God” (moharebeh) and “corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel-arz) in relation to alleged affiliation with the banned opposition group, People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI).
On 27 July 2025, the judiciary’s news agency announced the execution of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, claiming, without providing any details, that the men had “manufactured launchers … causing damage to civilians, homes, administrative buildings, as well as educational and charity centres.” According to information gathered by Amnesty International, the men repeatedly denied these accusations, saying they were based on forced “confessions” extracted through torture and other ill-treatment.
Others at risk of execution
The latest executions, coupled with recent state media calls for repetition of 1988 prison massacres in which thousands of political dissidents were secretly executed, have sparked fears that the authorities may execute other individuals on death row for politically motivated charges. These fears emerge amid a campaign of repression that the Iranian authorities have waged since the “12-day war” with Israel, with mass arrests, alarming official orders to expedite trials and executions, and an emergency bill awaiting final approval that will expand the scope of the death penalty.
Amnesty International has documented the cases of 19 people who are at risk of execution for politically motivated charges.
Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali has been subjected to enforced disappearance, a crime under international law, since 23 June when Iranian authorities moved him from Evin prison to an unidentified location after Evin prison was hit by Israeli air strikes. The authorities’ ongoing refusal to reveal his whereabouts has raised fears that he is at risk of secret execution.
At least three women are at risk of execution: women’s rights defender Sharifeh Mohammadi, Kurdish humanitarian worker Pakhshan Azizi, and Kurdish dissident, Verisheh Moradi.
At least nine people are at risk of execution in relation to the Woman Life Freedom protests: Fazel Bahramian, Mehran Bahramian, Milad Armoun, Alireza Kafaei, Amir Mohammad Khosheghbal, Navid Najaran, Hossein Nemati, Alireza Bamerzpournak, Mehrab (Mehran) Abdullahzadeh.
At least six people are at risk of execution on allegations of being affiliated with the PMOI: Abolhassan Montazer, Akbar (Shahrokh) Daneshvarkar, Babak Alipour, Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi, Pouya Ghobadi, Vahid Bani Amerian.
Amnesty International has also received the names of 13 other people who are at risk of execution: Razgar Babamiri, Pezhman Soltani, Soran Ghasemi, Kaveh Salehi, Tayfour Salimi Babamiri, Manouchehr Falah, Amin Farhahvar Gisavandani, Ehsan Faridi, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, Masoud Jamei, Alireza Merdasi, Farshad Etemadi Far, and Yaghoub Derakhshan.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally for all crimes and under any circumstances.
Iran: Horrifying secret executions amid mounting political repression
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Iran: Political Death Sentences Surge in Brutal Crackdown on Minorities
Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI – July 16, 2025
Torture, Forced Confessions and Sham Trials Drive Deadly State Campaign Against Kurds and Arabs
July 16, 2025 — The Iranian government is rapidly increasing its use of the death penalty as a political weapon to crush dissent, terrorize restive ethnic minorities, and tighten its grip on power following its recent conflict with Israel, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said today.
In recent weeks, courts have sentenced numerous political prisoners—many of them Kurds and Arabs, but also participants in the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests—to death on alleged national security charges, following grossly unfair trials where forced “confessions” extracted under torture replaced any real evidence, according to research undertaken by CHRI.
“These are not trials. They are state-orchestrated performances meant to deliver death and instill fear,” said Bahar Ghandehari, CHRI’s Director of Advocacy.
“We are witnessing a coordinated state campaign to terrorize Kurdish and Arab communities who have not only endured decades of systemic state persecution, but have also stood at the forefront of many peaceful anti-government protests demanding freedom, justice, and dignity,” Ghandehari said.
“They now find themselves singled out as scapegoats by a regime desperate to reassert control after the massive Woman, Life, Freedom protests of 2022 and its military confrontation with Israel in 2025,” she added.
These executions violate not only domestic constitutional protections but also numerous international legal standards to which Iran is bound. Halting this systematic wave of executions must become an urgent global demand.
CHRI urges the UN and governments to forcefully condemn these death sentences and:
- Demand that the Iranian authorities immediately halt all pending executions and institute a moratorium on all political death sentences;
- Call for independent investigations of any allegations of torture or trial violations;
- Impose targeted sanctions against Iranian judges, intelligence agents, and other officials involved in these violations, including through mechanisms such as the Magnitsky Act;
- Governments should also pursue prosecution of responsible officials in national courts under the principle of universal jurisdiction.
“Given the scale and systematic nature of these crimes, particularly when targeted against specific ethnic and political groups, such actions may fall under the definition of crimes against humanity as outlined in Article 7 of the Rome Statute,” said Saeid Dehghan, a prominent human rights lawyer and director of the Parsi Law Collective.
“There is an urgent need for immediate international action, including a resolution by the UN General Assembly and a call on the Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigative committee,” Dehghan said.
Five Kurdish Protesters Condemned to Die: No Evidence, Just Torture
On July 6, 2025, the Revolutionary Court in Urmia, presided over by Judge Reza Najafzadeh, sentenced five Kurdish protestors—Ali (Soran) Ghasemi, Pejman Soltani, Kaveh Salehi, Rezgar Beigzadeh Babamiri, and Teyfour Salimi Babamiri—to multiple death sentences, for a total of 11 death sentences, in addition to lengthy prison terms and heavy fines. These individuals were arrested during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests and tried in a case with multiple other defendants.
Additionally, a separate court in West Azerbaijan Province had earlier sentenced Pejman Soltani to death under qisas (retribution) for the alleged murder of a security officer. Rezgar Beigzadeh Babamiri was sentenced to 15 years for allegedly ordering the murder, and Ghasemi to over 10 years for aiding and abetting. Kaveh Salehi was acquitted in that case.
These individuals were also sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay combined monetary penalties of 358 million tomans for offenses such as alleged “collaboration with Israel,” “smuggling Starlink satellite devices,” “propaganda against the state,” and “conspiracy to disrupt national security.”
Additionally, eight other defendants in the same case—Siamak Hiyasi, Sowareh Azizzadeh, Heyman Kermanj, Hossein Hosseinzadeh, Jalil Moloudi, Ahmad Mamehzadeh, Javanmard Mamkhosravi, and Salar Daghdar—were sentenced to prison terms and fines on charges including “membership in a rebel group,” “collaboration with a hostile government,” and “insulting the Supreme Leader.” Seven of them had previously been released on bail.
According to CHRI’s findings, all of these defendants’ cases, which together totaled 14 cases, were built solely on reports by the Intelligence Ministry and forced “confessions” obtained under torture during detention, with no independent or credible evidence presented in court. All of the accused were denied access to legal counsel and family visits during the first four months of detention.
“There is no actual evidence. All charges rely on forced confessions.”
Dr. Salahuddin Ahmadi, another defendant, was acquitted but now faces a separate criminal case for allegedly “financing terrorism.” A source told CHRI, these accusations stem from his provision of medicine to injured protesters.
A source familiar with the case told CHRI:
“Aside from a few seized Starlink devices, there is no actual evidence. All charges rely on forced confessions. Some of the accused were simply satellite dish installers. One of them, a pharmacist, was charged with ‘financing terrorism’ for providing medicine to injured protesters—an accusation applied to seven others in the case for similar reasons.”
“Blindfolded and handcuffed, I was tied to a chair while agents applied electric shocks.”
In a letter from Urmia Central Prison dated April 10, 2025, Rezgar Beigzadeh Babamiri, who was also arrested for providing medical aid to injured protesters during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, detailed the torture he endured, including mock executions, waterboarding, electric shocks, and sleep deprivation, to extract forced confessions. He added that his formal complaint against the perpetrators was ignored.
“Handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded, I was continuously mocked while they pulled the triggers of their weapons, telling me, ‘We haven’t registered your name anywhere as a prisoner, so when you die under interrogations, it’ll be easy to dump your body like those of the rioters (protesters), in the sewage canals, lakes and mass graves.’
“Blindfolded and handcuffed, I was tied to a chair with a rope, while intelligence agents applied electric shocks to my earlobes, testicles, nipples, spine, sides, armpits, thighs, and temples, inflicting unbearable pain to force me to write or say what they wanted on camera.
“They would suddenly take me to an unknown room in the middle of the night and force me to stand on a stool with a noose around my neck for hours on end and threaten to secretly and anonymously execute me, attempting to intimidate me as much as possible.
“For several consecutive days and nights, Intelligence Department agents kept disturbing me, making noise, shouting insults, entering my cell, beating me, and using any means to keep me from sleeping. Their goal was to break my resistance so that I would write their dictated scenarios and repeat it on camera. All the while, my only crime was helping fellow human beings.
“During the 130 consecutive days of detention and torture, aside from bruises all over my body, I lost hearing in my left ear due to the blows to my head by the interrogators and couldn’t hear for three months. Later, the ruptured eardrum in my left ear gradually regained some hearing, but during the recovery period, it became severely infected multiple times.”
Judge in response to reports of torture: “Did you expect them to serve you kebab?’”
Beigzadeh Babamiri added that the judge was aware of the torture endured by him and his co-defendant:
“How could the Urmia Revolutionary Court and Judge Reza Najafzadeh, despite the legal briefs submitted by me and other defendants detailing the types of torture suffered by the 14 defendants in this case, respond in court by simply saying the shameful sentence: ‘Did you expect them to serve you kebab?’
“Judicial independence is nothing but a myth in this country. The torturer is fully protected while the victim is placed under threat, pressure, and additional punishments. The goal of the security forces is not to maintain public safety, but rather to serve their superiors and exercise blind ethnic and sectarian prejudice. Torture and fabricated cases are standard practices and tools of oppressive forces.”
Breakdown of the death sentences against 5 protesters:
- Ali (Soran) Ghasemi has been sentenced to three death sentences by a Revolutionary Court in Urmia for the charges of “armed rebellion,” “enmity against God,” and “leading and forming a rebel group.” In a separate ruling by the criminal court, he was also sentenced to 10 years and 1 day in prison for aiding and abetting murder.” In addition, he received further prison time and a financial fine on alleged charges such as “cooperation with Israel,” “smuggling Starlink satellite equipment,” and “propaganda against the state.”
- Pejman Soltani has received three death sentences: two for “armed rebellion” and “enmity against God,” by a Revolutionary Court in Urmia and one from the juvenile criminal court for premeditated murder (qisas). He was also sentenced to multiple years of imprisonment and a financial fine for alleged charges such as “cooperation with Israel,” “smuggling Starlink satellite equipment,” and “propaganda against the state.”
- Kaveh Salehi was sentenced to two death sentences by a Revolutionary Court in Urmia on charges of “armed rebellion” and “enmity against God.” He was acquitted of murder charges in the separate case but was still sentenced to additional years in prison and fined for security-related charges similar to those faced by the others.
- Rezgar Beigzadeh Babamiri was sentenced to three death sentences for “armed rebellion,” “leading a rebel group,” and one for “spying for Israel.” He also received 15 years in prison from the criminal court for murder, and additional prison terms and fines for alleged charges such as “cooperation with Israel,” “smuggling Starlink satellite equipment,” and “propaganda against the state.”
- Teyfour Salimi Babamiri, who had previously been temporarily released on bail, was sentenced to one death sentence for allegedly leading the same “rebel group.” He also received further prison time and a fine for alleged charges such as “cooperation with Israel,” “smuggling Starlink satellite equipment,” and “propaganda against the state.”
In July 2024, the Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), published footage of forced “confessions” of four of the detainees, despite their consistent claims that these statements were made under physical and psychological torture.
Arab and Lur Political Prisoners Next in Line for Execution
The recent crackdown is not limited to Kurdish activists. On July 11, it was reported that three Arab political prisoners—Ali Mojadam, Moein Khenfari, and Mohammadreza Mojadam—were transferred from the general ward of Sepidar Prison in Ahvaz to solitary confinement on June 25, 2025. They were sentenced to death on charges that included “collaboration with anti-regime groups” and “acting against national security.” They had previously endured prolonged solitary confinement, violent interrogations, and forced “confessions.”
The three were reportedly able to make brief phone calls to their families on July 13, after 17 days of complete incommunicado detention.
On July 11, Branch 1 of the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Adibimehr, sentenced Farshad Etemadifar, Masoud Jamei, and Alireza Mordasi each to two death sentences and one year in prison on charges of “corruption on earth,” “membership in rebel groups,” and “propaganda against the regime.” Jamei and Alireza Mordasi belong to Iran’s Arab ethnic minority, while Etemadifar is from the Lur ethnic group.
A source familiar with the case told CHRI:
“The judicial process for these individuals was marked by violations of fundamental fair trial principles, including lack of effective access to legal counsel, security pressures, and confessions obtained under duress.”
In the same case, two others—Saman Hormatnejad and Davood Hormatnejad—received prison sentences of 12 and 15 years, respectively. All five were arrested in 2023.
Masoud Jamei’s case is especially dire. A former employee of the National Iranian Oil Company, Jamei, 47, suffers from stomach cancer, liver disease, high blood pressure, and a severe internal infection. He was arrested in August 2023 and reportedly subjected to intense torture, and has since been denied critical medical treatment during his 13 months of detention in Sheiban Prison.
In March 2025, Jamei and his wife Zeinab Hezbahpour and their children Nahid (22), Dalal (20), and Roghieh (16) were tried in the Bavi Revolutionary Court on charges of alleged affiliation with anti-government groups. Details of their legal proceedings and charges remain unknown.
A Call for Global Red Lines
The Islamic Republic of Iran is now running one of the world’s most aggressive execution campaigns targeting peaceful protesters, political dissidents, and minority communities, under the pretense of national security. These death sentences, based on torture, fabricated charges, and ethnic profiling, amount to state-sponsored murder. The international community should not remain silent as the Iranian government escalates this war on its own citizens, CHRI stressed.
“The Iranian regime is testing the world’s moral boundaries. Every death sentence issued under torture and false confession is a challenge to international law, and every silent response from the global community is a tacit green light for further executions,” said Ghandehari.
“The international community must act now—not after the gallows have done their work and these voices are permanently silenced,” she added.
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IranHrm July 17, 2025
In a statement from Qezel Hesar, political prisoners write: Saeed Masouri Is the Regime’s Target for Vengeful Retribution Against the People They reveal how Saeed Masouri, Iran’s longest-held political prisoner was nearly abducted on July 16. Under the pretext of a “security summons,” guards tried to transfer him to an unknown location. Prisoners protested, surrounded the gate & forced his return to the ward. But authorities have made it clear: Masouri will face forced exile by Saturday, July 19, likely to a prison in southern or southwestern Iran. This attempted abduction & forced transfer blatantly violates Iranian and international law.https://x.com/IranHrm/status/1945834234536509653
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Over 20 Christians arrested as UN experts decry targeting of minorities
July 10, 2025
At least 21 Christians have been arrested in five different cities in the two weeks since the end of the conflict with Israel, Article18 can reveal.
The arrests by agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence targeted Christians in the cities of Tehran, Rasht, Orumiyeh, Kermanshah and Varamin, while a further arrest took place in Kerman just before the conflict.
Article18 has also received multiple other reports of arrests, which we are in the process of verifying.
A group of UN experts, including the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, and Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Nazila Ghanea, recently released a statement, expressing concern at the targeting of minorities since the ceasefire came into effect on 25 June.
“Hundreds of individuals, including … members of ethnic and religious minorities … have been detained on accusations of ‘collaboration’ or ‘espionage’,” they wrote. “Post-conflict situations must not be used as an opportunity to suppress dissent and increase repression.”
The precise details of the cases of the arrested Christians cannot be divulged at this stage, but some relate to the alleged possession of Bibles, while others have been threatened with charges under a newly proposed law seeking to enforce harsher punishments for those alleged to have collaborated with “hostile states” such as the United States or Israel.
In Iran, prosecutors and judges frequently label evangelical Christians as “Zionists”, “deviant” and belonging to “illegal sects”, in an attempt to distinguish between them and the tolerated Orthodox and Catholic Christians of Armenian and Assyrian descent.
In one case revealed in last year’s leaked Tehran judiciary files, a judge clearly sought to connect evangelical Christianity with the West and Israel by stating: “Evangelistic Christianity in Iran seeks to weaken the foundation of the family and … fight against the necessities of Islam, including the Islamic hijab, as well as cleansing the evils of America and especially the occupying regime of Israel.”
In their statement, the UN experts expressed concern at the “dehumanising rhetoric” used against minorities, saying they had received “reports of incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence in the media, which have labelled entire minority communities as traitors and used dehumanising language such as ‘filthy rats’”.
They also condemned the “abysmal” and “deteriorating” conditions faced by prisoners transferred in the wake of the strike on Tehran’s Evin Prison, adding that “the fate and whereabouts of some prisoners remain unknown, placing them outside the protection of the law—a situation that amounts to enforced disappearances”.
At least 11 Christians were in Evin at the time of the strike on the prison and all are believed to have been transferred to different facilities in the Tehran region, though not all have been accounted for.
One Christian convert who was among the over 60 female political prisoners transferred to Qarchak Prison has highlighted the dire conditions there.
Aida Najaflou, 43, who only remains in prison as she could not afford the exorbitant bail set for her following her arrest in February, said in a recording published by Iran International on Saturday that she and the other prisoners were transferred in “such a disgraceful manner, handcuffed”, and are now “suffering without clean water, cooling, or heating, lacking hygiene and proper food, entangled and helpless”.
Aida was one of five Christians recently charged with “gathering and collusion” and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran” in an indictment that referred to ordinary Christian acts such as praying and performing baptisms as examples of their alleged crimes. The indictment also referred to the Bible as a “prohibited book”.
Aida faces two additional charges – “propaganda activity against the Islamic Republic of Iran in the cyberspace” and “propaganda in favour of groups or organisations opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran” – due to allegedly posting on social media in support of the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests and against the former leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.
The UN experts concluded their statement by saying that “following the ceasefire, the world is watching closely to see how Iranian authorities treat their own people. This will be a defining measure of the country’s commitment to human rights and the rule of law. Iran must not allow history to repeat itself by resorting to the same dark patterns of repression that have devastated its people in previous post-conflict periods.”
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Hamid Hoseinnezhad Faces Imminent Execution in Iran
The political prisoner Hamid Hoseinnezhad Heydaranlu, who has been sentenced to death, has been transferred from the political ward of Urmia Central Prison to the prison’s quarantine section. Human rights sources reported that this transfer, along with the Supreme Court’s confirmation of his sentence, has intensified concerns about the imminent risk of his execution.
Human rights organizations reported on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, that Hamid Hoseinnezhad Heydaranlu has been transferred to the quarantine ward of Urmia Prison and stated that this move puts him on the verge of imminent execution.
Hoseinnezhad’s family has been informed to visit the prison for a final meeting, and his lawyer has written that the execution is scheduled to be carried out on Friday, April 18, 2025.
At the same time, the human rights website Hengaw also reported on his transfer to one of Urmia Prison’s solitary confinement cells, stating that his life is in danger.
Previously, on March 29, 2025, Branch 9 of Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for Hoseinnezhad Heydaranlu without any changes. The ruling was formally delivered to him in Urmia Prison.
In July 2024, Hoseinnezhad was tried by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Urmia, presided over by Judge Najafzadeh. He was sentenced to death on the charge of “armed rebellion through membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).”
The death sentence was issued despite the fact that he had denied all charges against him during the court session.
The Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence, without providing any evidence, accused Hoseinnezhad of cooperating with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The judge, disregarding his defense, issued a death sentence in a court session lasting only a few minutes, solely based on what is referred to as the “judge’s knowledge” — a vague concept that allows rulings without hard evidence.
Hoseinnezhad, born in 1985 and a father of three, had been working as a “kolbar” — a porter who carries goods across Iran’s mountainous western borders — to make ends meet in recent years.
He was arrested by border patrol forces on April 13, 2023, near the Chaldoran border crossing. After a few hours of interrogation, he was transferred to the Intelligence Department’s detention facility in Urmia.
Hoseinnezhad was subjected to psychological and physical torture for 11 months and 10 days in order to extract forced confessions regarding his alleged participation in an armed clash between PKK members and Iranian regime border forces. Interrogators forced him to sign pre-written documents.
In recent months, the rising number of executions as well as the issuance and confirmation of death sentences for political prisoners in Iran has triggered a wave of protests both inside the country and internationally.
In the latest example, a group of families of political prisoners sentenced to death gathered in front of Evin Prison on April 15, 2025, during the 64th week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign. The campaign includes hunger strikes by prisoners in 40 prisons across the country.
According to human rights sources, around 60 individuals in prisons across Iran are currently under death sentences on political or national security-related charges.
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UN Special Rapporteur Warns About Transfer of Death Row Prisoners in Iran
Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, expressed deep concern over reports of the forced transfer of five political prisoners sentenced to death from Ward 4 of Evin Prison to Ghezel Hesar Prison.
On Thursday, April 17, Sato posted on X (formerly Twitter), recalling that in her latest report to the UN Human Rights Council she had also warned about conditions in Evin Prison.
She reiterated concerns about reports of unrest and instability in the prison following the transfer of inmates, stating that this situation has created a dangerous environment.
Meanwhile, political prisoner Golrokh Iraee, in a letter from Evin Prison, warned against society’s “numbness” to news of executions, following the transfer of Hamid Hosseinnezhad Heydaranlou for execution.
Criticizing the general response to the issuance, confirmation, and enforcement of death sentences in Iran, she wrote: “We who oppose the death penalty, sitting freely in our homes or behind our desks, watching every move from our high-security phones lest we be identified.”
The UN Special Rapporteur noted the broad impact of executions, emphasizing that the harm goes beyond the direct victims—it devastates families, causes psychological harm to other prisoners, and triggers waves of grief and anxiety throughout society. She described these impacts as “immeasurable.”
Sato concluded by highlighting the ongoing concerns over the Iranian regime’s use of the death penalty, stating that these cases once again underscore the need for oversight and accountability. She added, “I will closely follow this situation. The international community must not remain silent in the face of these events.”
Five Political Prisoners at Risk of Execution
Meanwhile, warnings have been issued that a group of political prisoners held in Evin Prison may be transferred to Ghezel Hesar.Among them are five political prisoners—Babak Alipour, Vahid Bani-Amerian, Pouya Ghobadi, Mohammad Taghavi, and Ali-Akbar Daneshvarkar—who have been sentenced to death
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Iran News: UN Human Rights Council Criticizes Regime’s Widespread Rights Violations
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) held a session on Tuesday, March 18, addressing the persistent and systemic human rights violations in Iran. During the meeting in Geneva, representatives from the European Union and several countries strongly condemned the Iranian regime’s increasing repression, mass executions, and systematic discrimination against women and minorities.
In its official statement, the European Union (EU) emphasized the severity of the situation, stating that reports presented to the UNHRC demonstrate “widespread and structural human rights violations” in Iran. The EU highlighted ongoing repression against women and girls, arbitrary arrests, and the use of torture and inhumane treatment in detention centers. “The use of capital punishment as a response to domestic dissent, including against persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, is unacceptable,” the statement read. The EU also urged the clerical regime in Iran to impose an immediate moratorium on executions and ultimately abolish the death penalty.
The United Kingdom echoed these concerns, calling the human rights situation in Iran “appalling,” with executions reaching a crisis level. British representatives pointed out the alarming rise in executions of women, many of whom were sentenced to death following unfair trials. They further criticized the Iranian regime’s continued enforcement of mandatory hijab laws, calling for their repeal.
