Multiple executions and arrests reported across Iran amid ongoing judicial cases

A series of executions and arrests have been reported across Iran, alongside cases involving protest-related sentencing and charges linked to social media activity and religious expression, according to rights groups including HRANA, HANA and Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO).

Executions

The foreign-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that on 15 June, authorities at Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan executed three prisoners on charges of murder and drug-related offences, News.Az reports.

One of the prisoners was identified as Mohammadreza Gashoul, who had previously been convicted of murder and sentenced to death by a criminal court.

HRANA identified the other two prisoners as Fariborz Jafari, 27, from Khomeyni Shahr, and Hamidreza Afsharipour, 51, a father of three from Fuman.

According to the report, Jafari had been convicted of murder and was held in Ward 4 of Dastgerd Prison after previously being detained in Najafabad Prison. Afsharipour was arrested around two years ago on drug-related charges and later sentenced to death.

As of the time of reporting, prison authorities had not publicly announced the executions.

HRANA, citing the HRA Annual Report, said that in 2025 at least 2,063 people, including 61 women and two juvenile offenders, were executed in Iran, with 11 executions carried out publicly. During the same period, 172 individuals were sentenced to death.

HANA also reported that in the early hours of 15 June 2026, a qisas sentence was carried out against Aram Zarei at Sanandaj Central Prison. He had been convicted of the premeditated murder of his wife, Aida Heydarian, and sentenced to death by the Kurdistan Province Criminal Court, with the sentence later upheld by the Supreme Court.

Separately, according to reports received by HANA, the death sentence of Amin Rajabian, a 32-year-old Kurdish prisoner from Shirvan County, was carried out in the early hours of 14 June 2026 at the central prison in North Khorasan province. He had been convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to death by the judiciary.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) also reported a series of additional executions in recent days across multiple prisons.

On 4 June 2026, Azad Shushtari was executed in Mashhad Central Prison after being sentenced to qisas for an unpremeditated murder following a street fight. According to an informed source cited by IHRNGO, the execution was carried out after the victim’s family refused to accept four billion tomans in diya, demanding six billion tomans instead, which the prisoner’s family was unable to pay.

On 10 June 2026, Hamed Heidarzadeh, a 26-year-old cotton factory worker, was executed in Semnan Central Prison after being convicted of murder in a financial dispute and sentenced to qisas.

On 11 June 2026, Mehdi Brahimi, a policeman, was executed in Bandarabbas Central Prison after being convicted of murder while on duty. According to IHRNGO, repeated efforts to reach a financial settlement through diya were rejected by the victim’s family, who insisted on execution.

On 9 June 2026, Manouchehr Nikoukhalgh was executed in Mashhad Central Prison alongside co-defendant Asadollah Bahreh. He had been convicted of drug-related offences and sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court.

IHRNGO also reported that Rasoul Atapour, a 71-year-old man convicted of possessing six kilograms of narcotics, is at imminent risk of execution in Tabriz Central Prison, despite maintaining his innocence during trial hearings.

According to IHRNGO’s 2025 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 795 people were executed for drug-related offences in Iran that year, with only a small fraction publicly announced. The organisation also said at least 747 people were executed for murder charges in 2025, the highest number recorded since 2010.

Arrests and sentencing

HRANA reported that Amirparsa Neshat, a blogger arrested in connection with the 2026 nationwide protests, has been sentenced by the Tehran Revolutionary Court to two years in prison and a three-year ban on social media activity and smartphone use. Only one-twentieth of the sentence is enforceable, with the remainder suspended for three years.

Neshat was arrested in Tehran in January 2026 and released on bail in February. HRANA said it is still investigating the charges.

Separately, Tehran’s Intelligence Police announced the arrest of three individuals accused of publishing social media content allegedly insulting religious sanctities and “defenders of the homeland,” according to HRANA citing Mehr News Agency. No details were provided regarding the content, identities, or legal proceedings.

HRANA also reported the arrest of Ahmad Naeimi, a Baha’i resident of Yazd, on 13 June after appearing before the Yazd Prosecutor’s Investigation Office. A source said he faces a new case alongside his wife, Flora Samadani, and that authorities opposed bail. No information has been released on his place of detention.

HRANA added that Naeimi has previously faced arrest linked to his religious beliefs, while Samadani was arrested on 3 May 2026 and transferred to Yazd Prison. The organisation also noted reported patterns of discrimination against Baha’i citizens in Iran.

Source: news.az, Staff, June 16, 2026

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