Iran | Teenage Protester Amirhossein Hatami Hanged 84 Days After Arrest; IHRNGO Warns of More Executions in Coming Days

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) 2 April 2026: State media reported the execution of Amirhossein Hatami, an 18-year-old protester arrested at the 8 January protest in Tehran. He was one of seven defendants sentenced to death by “Death Judge” Salavati a month after being arrested.

Condemning the execution in the strongest terms, IHRNGO once again draws the international community’s attention to the Islamic Republic’s use of the death penalty as a tool of political repression, and the ongoing execution of political prisoners in the shadow of the war.

IHRNGO Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam stated: “Amirhossein Hatami was executed following a grossly unfair trial and on the basis of forced confessions. The execution of four protesters and four political prisoners in just two weeks signals that the regime has intensified its war against the Iranian people. As it struggles for survival, the authorities view the Iranian people, who are demanding fundamental change, as the primary threat to their existence.” He added: “Hundreds more now face imminent executions in the coming days and weeks. We must not allow the ongoing war to overshadow the Islamic Republic’s atrocities against the Iranian people!”

According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency, Amirhossein Hatami, arrested during the 8 January 2026 protests in Tehran, was hanged at an unspecified location on 2 April 2026. His execution was reportedly carried out in Ghezel Hesar Prison.

He was one of the defendants in a case of seven, accused of attacking an IRGC base in Tehran. Ten days after arrest, on 18 January, state media aired the forced confessions of five of the defendants. In the video, they are referred to as “deceived youth” who were “directed by American-Zionist terrorist elements” to attack the IRGC base in Tehran. As the protesters’ faces were blurred, it is not clear whether Amirhossein was in the video.

Mohammad Amin Biglari, Ali Fahim, Abolfazl Salehi Siavashani, Shahin Vahedparast Kolor, Shahab Zohdi and Yaser Rajaifar are the other six defendants in the case.

Along with the other defendants in the case, Amirhossein Hatami was tried by Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by “Death Judge” Salavati on 7 February 2026. The next day, the court sentenced seven of the defendants to death on charges of moharebeh (enmity against god) and efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth).

According to the official report, Amirhossein had “explicitly confessed” and was tried for “participating in actions against national security in cooperation with Israel, the United States and affiliated groups, as well as entering classified military facilities with the intention of removing weapons and ammunition, and damaging and setting fire to state property.”

Informed sources told IHRNGO that the defendants did not have access to lawyers and were represented by court-appointed lawyers at trial who later informed them of the sentences. The case was sent to Branch 9 of the Supreme Court, which according to the official report, rejected Amirhossein’s appeal and upheld the sentence.

No updated information is available about the other six defendants in the case. However, Amirhossein had reportedly been transferred to the pre-execution solitary confinement cells with Ali Fahim, Mohammad Amin Biglari, Shahin Vahedparast Kolor and Abolfazl Salehi Siavashani. They are at grave and imminent risk of execution.

Amirhossein Hatami is the eighth political prisoner to be executed in the last two weeks.

Saleh Mohammadi, Saeed Davodi and Mehdi Ghasemi were hanged in Qom on 19 March. Mohammad Taghavi and Ali Akbar Daneshvarkar were hanged on 30 March, and their co-defendants Pouya Ghobadi and Babak Alipour were hanged on 31 March.

Yesterday, IHRNGO called for urgent action to save the lives of the two remaining defendants, Vahid Baniamerian and Abolhassan Montazer.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, April 2, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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