Iran | Twin brothers sentenced to death on charges of “collaboration with Israel”

Hassan Amiri and Hossein Amiri, 20-year-old twin brothers and co-defendants in the same case, have been sentenced to death by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, on charges of “collaboration with Israel.” The brothers, who were subjected to severe physical and psychological torture during detention, are currently being held in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj and face the imminent risk of execution.

According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the trial was held on May 5, 2026, before Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran. The death sentences were issued several days later and formally communicated to the brothers, who remain imprisoned in Ghezel Hesar Prison.

Hassan Amiri was arrested on March 20, 2026, during the 40-day war, at a security checkpoint. According to sources, security forces searched his mobile phone and found an image of a bombed location. He was subsequently subjected to severe torture and coercion to force him to confess to allegations against himself and his brother.

Sources told Hengaw that interrogators compelled Hassan to claim that his twin brother, Hossein, possessed additional images on a laptop computer. However, according to information obtained by Hengaw, neither of the brothers owned a laptop.

Following Hassan’s forced confession, Hossein Amiri, who worked as an auto mechanic in Karaj, was arrested on March 24, 2026. Six days later, both brothers were transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison for further security interrogations.

The brothers spent their childhood and adolescence in a state-run welfare institution and remained there until the age of 18. They grew up under extremely difficult circumstances and have no family members or guardians capable of following up on their legal case from outside prison.

The death sentences were issued under Iran’s recently enacted legislation aimed at increasing punishments for espionage-related offenses. Earlier, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei instructed judicial authorities to process cases involving alleged cooperation with the United States or Israel during wartime on an expedited basis and to impose severe punishments, including the death penalty.

The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights expresses serious concern over the imminent risk of execution facing the Amiri brothers and considers the issuance of death sentences against the two young men, based on confessions extracted under torture, a clear violation of international fair trial standards.

Source: Hengaw, Staff, June 5, 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

Death Penalty News For a World without the Death Penalty

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