Iran hangs three men over January protests in execution ‘wave’

TEHRAN – Iran executed three men charged over protests this January, the authorities said on May 4, the latest in a wave of hangings of convicts seen by rights groups as political prisoners against the backdrop of the war against the US and Israel.

The Iranian authorities have carried out executions on a near-daily basis in recent weeks, in what activists have denounced as a bid to instil fear in society at a time of international and domestic tension.

Mehdi Rassouli, Mohammad Reza Miri and Ebrahim Dolatabadi were executed after being convicted over unrest in the eastern city of Mashhad in January, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency announced.

It was not specified when or where they were executed. But the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said that Rassouli, 25, and Miri, 21, were hanged at dawn on May 3 at the Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad.

The protests began in December sparked by grievances over the cost of living but intensified into nationwide rallies against the Islamic Republic, peaking as mass demonstrations on the nights of Jan 8 and Jan 9.

Rights groups say that thousands were killed in a crackdown by security forces, while the authorities have blamed “rioters” who they say were backed by the US and Israel.

Mizan said that Rassouli and Miri were responsible for the death of a member of the security forces, and described Dolatabadi as one of the “instigators” of the unrest in Mashhad.

‘Ongoing wave’

But Norway-based non-governmental organisation Iran Human Rights (IHR) described the three as “political prisoners” who had been sentenced “after unfair trials in the Revolutionary Courts”.

It said that since executions resumed in March during the war against the US and Israel, Iran had executed 24 men seen as “political prisoners”.

Thirteen men were executed over the January 2026 protests, another man over 2022 demonstrations, nine men over alleged links to the banned People’s Mujahedin opposition group and one over membership of a Sunni militant organisation.

Within that same timeframe, an additional four individuals have been executed for alleged espionage for Israel.

“The international community, especially the European Union, must respond decisively to this ongoing wave of executions,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam.

“Unless the political cost of these executions is raised through clear and strong international reactions, there is a serious risk of daily executions continuing in the weeks and months ahead,” he added.

Amnesty International in a statement on May 1 said that the international community must “not stand idly by while the Iranian authorities continue to escalate the arbitrary execution of political dissidents and protesters to instil fear”.

Amnesty said that it had documented cases of 13 of the men who it said had been subjected to torture and “convicted in grossly unfair trials that relied on forced ‘confessions’ and lasted a few hours”.

Iran is the world’s most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups, and in 2025 it hanged at least 1,639 people, according to figures from IHR. AFP