Iran has carried out at least two executions and sentenced four more individuals to death, escalating its crackdown on dissent amid ongoing domestic unrest and international scrutiny. The actions, reported by state-affiliated media and human rights groups, have drawn sharp condemnation from the United Nations.
Executions Linked to January Protests and Espionage
On Sunday, Iranian authorities executed Abbas Akbari Feyzabadi, a man convicted of moharebeh (enmity against God), destruction of public property, and collusion against national security. According to the judiciary-affiliated Mizan News Agency, Feyzabadi participated in attacks on the governor's office in Naein, Isfahan province, during protests on 8 and 9 January 2025. Those protests were part of a broader wave of demonstrations sparked by hyperinflation and a spike in the cost of living in December 2024. Officials claimed he opened fire on security forces with a handgun, and that evidence, images, and confessions formed the basis of his conviction, which was upheld by Iran's Supreme Court. No independent verification of the trial's fairness, access to legal representation, or the circumstances of the confessions was available.
Separately, Mojtaba Kian was executed on Sunday on charges of espionage for Israel and the United States. The judiciary stated that Kian had passed information about Iran's defence industries to foreign intelligence. Iran Human Rights reported that Kian was the first person arrested during the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on 28 February to be executed, less than 50 days after his arrest.
Four Sentenced to Death in Ekbatan Town Case
In a separate development, Branch 15 of Tehran's Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Salavati, sentenced four defendants to death in the so-called Ekbatan Town case. The case is linked to the 2022 nationwide protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini. Those sentenced to death were identified as Milad Armoon, Navid Najjaran, Mehdi Imani, and Seyed Mohammadmehdi Hosseini. They were convicted of efsad-e fel-arz (corruption on Earth). Four other defendants received five-year prison terms for assembly and collusion, two years for propaganda against the state, and a two-year ban on social media use, along with residency restrictions in Tehran and Alborz provinces.
The case centres on the killing of Arman Aliverdi, a Basij-affiliated seminary student wounded during protests in November 2022 who died two days later. According to Iran Human Rights, the verdicts were communicated verbally to the defendants without their lawyers present or prior notification. The verdicts can be appealed before Iran's Supreme Court.
International Condemnation
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed alarm at the new wave of executions. "The rights of the people of Iran are still being harshly and violently stripped away by the authorities," he said. Human rights organisations have repeatedly stated that political detainees in Iran are denied fair trials and that confessions used as evidence in capital cases are frequently extracted under coercion.
Iran's judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, rejected the criticism. "We certainly do not neglect in the trial and legal punishment of that criminal whose hand is smeared with the blood of our people," he said.
The executions and death sentences come as Iran faces ongoing protests and international pressure. The European Union has previously condemned Iran's use of the death penalty in protest-related cases, and the bloc's foreign policy chief has called for an end to executions. The situation remains a point of tension between Tehran and European capitals, including Berlin, Paris, and London.
