Iran | Protesters Erfan Esfandiari and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi Hanged; Total January Protest Executions Reach 23

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 19 July 2026: State media reported the execution of protesters Erfan Esfandiari and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi, an Afghan national, in connection to the 8 January protests in Isfahan.

Their executions bring the total number of protesters executed in connection with the January 2026 protests to at least 23. Another January protester, Mohammad Amini Dehaghani, was hanged in Isfahan Central Prison six days ago.

At the time, IHRNGO Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam stated, "With the breakdown of the ceasefire and the resumption of the war, we are deeply concerned that the authorities will exploit the situation to intensify the execution of political prisoners. Hundreds of political prisoners and protesters are currently facing capital charges, and we estimate that around 100 have already been sentenced to death. The international community, and the European Union in particular, must make an immediate moratorium on executions a central issue in any dialogue or negotiations with the Islamic Republic.”

According to the Mizan News Agency, Erfan Esfandiari (right photo) and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi (left photo) were hanged at an undisclosed location on 19 July 2026. IHRNGO has established the location of their executions as Isfahan (Dastgerd) Central Prison.

They were accused of killing four security forces and committing arson and vandalism during the protests in Shahid Alikhani Square in Isfahan on 8 January. The exact charges against the protesters have not been specified. State media reported the arrests of four people in relation to the case on 11 January. According to the execution announcement, indictments were issued against 16 individuals in the case.

Alireza Sepahi, Abolfazl Sepahi, Ghaem Hosseini, Shervin Bagherian, Amirhossein Safari, Amirhossein Maleki, Ali Dashti, Abolfazl Ebrahimi, Alireza Raisi and Amirhossein Ebrahimi have also reportedly been sentenced to death in the same case.

According to unofficial reports, Erfan was 18 and Gol Mohammad, an Afghan national, was 23 years old. IHRNGO has not been able to independently verify Erfan’s exact age at the time of the alleged offence.

At the time of writing, no further information is available about the case.

IHRNGO has documented systemic violations of due process and fair trial rights in death penalty cases. On 16 May, the organisation warned that the Islamic Republic's judiciary is actively weaponising state-approved lawyers to facilitate and expedite the execution of arrested protesters. Families of death row prisoners are also routinely silenced through threats and coercion to prevent them from speaking out about their loved ones’ cases. Consequently, no independent information is available on many of these cases, including that of Mohammad Amini Dehaghani.

At least 23 protesters have been executed in relation to the January 2026 protests since 19 March, listed here in order of execution: Saleh Mohammadi, Saeed Davodi, Mehdi Ghasemi, Amirhossein Hatami, Mohammad Amin Biglari, Shahin Vahedparast Kolor, Ali Fahim, Amir Ali Mir Jafari, Erfan Kiani, Sasan Azadvar, Ebrahim Dolatabadnejad, Mehdi Rasouli, Mohammadreza Miri, Mohammad Abbasi, Abbas Akbari Feizabadi, Ashkan Maleki, Mehrdad Mohammadinia, Fathollah Avari, Javad Zamani, Abolfazl Saedi, Mohammad Amini Dehaghani, Erfan Esfandiari and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi.

Mehrab Abdollahzadeh and Aref Khoshkar, two “Woman, Life, Freedom” protesters, were also executed during this period.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, July 19, 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

Comments

Taylor Parker becomes 7th woman on death row in Texas

Taylor Parker is set to become the 7th woman on death row in Texas, following her sentencing Wednesday in Bowie County for the capital murder of Reagan Hancock and the kidnapping her unborn baby, Braxlynn Sage. The baby did not survive. The last woman to be handed a death sentence in the state was Kimberly Cargill in June 2012 for the slaying of her developmentally disabled babysitter in Smith County, who was set to testify against her in a custody battle. None of the women currently on death row in Texas are scheduled for execution. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 6 women have been executed in Texas since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, more than any other state, according to Death Penalty Information Center. The last woman to be executed in the U.S. was Lisa Montgomery in January 2021. It was the first execution of a female inmate carried out by the federal government since 1953, and her case is chillingly reminiscent of Parker’s. She wa...

Texas executes LeJames Norman

Texas kills man by lethal injection in state’s fifth execution this year A man convicted over the shooting deaths of 3 people was executed on Wednesday in Texas, while another execution scheduled for the same time in Georgia was halted by a judge. It’s the 5th execution in Texas this year. Georgia has yet to put anyone to death this year. The nation’s busiest death chamber is in Florida, which accounted for more than 1/2 the 25 executions already carried out in the US this year.

Alabama executes Jeffery Lee

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WBMA) — Alabama has executed Jeffery Lee, nearly three decades after he was convicted in the 1998 killings of two people during a pawnshop robbery in rural Dallas County. Lee, 49, was put to death by lethal injection Thursday evening at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. His execution came three months after a federal judge blocked Alabama's plans to execute him using nitrogen gas. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. Central Time, according to the office of Governor Kay Ivey.

Singapore | Ministry of Home Affairs refutes claims that death penalty was discussed during visit by Israel's security ministry

The Ministry of Home Affairs says discussions with the Israeli government involved the sharing of best practices in emergency response, crime prevention, and forensics. Issues relating to the death penalty “were never part of the meeting and were not discussed." SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Sep 11) refuted claims by an Israeli media outlet that the death penalty was discussed during a visit by an Israeli delegation in May. The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sep 7 that a delegation comprising representatives from the Israel Prison Service and National Security Ministry made a “secret visit” to Singapore that month.

Tennessee | Christa Pike Requests Clemency Ahead of September 30 Execution Date; Experts’ Amicus Brief Points to ‘Substantial Risk’ of Re-traumatization

Lawyers for Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, filed a 226-page clemency petition with Governor Bill Lee, asking him to commute her death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole ahead of her September 30 execution date. Ms. Pike’s clemency petition outlines the case her team has built over decades of appeals: her actions at 18 years old cannot be separated from a childhood marked by repeated rape, sexual abuse, and neglect that went unaddressed by the adults and state systems meant to protect her. Once incarcerated, Ms. Pike was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Florida to execute William Thompson after nearly 48 years on death row

On Sept. 11, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a death warrant for William Thompson, convicted of the 1976 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 23-year-old Sally Ivester. Thompson, now 74, and another man were staying in a Miami Beach hotel room with Ivester and another woman, according to court records. After Ivester was unable to get money from her mother, the men beat and tortured her, prosecutors said. She died from internal bleeding and multiple injuries. Thompson was convicted in 1978 of kidnapping, rape, and first-degree murder.

Alabama | Lethal injection for double murderer set for Thursday after court blocked nitrogen hypoxia execution in June

Alabama plans to execute Jeffery Lee on Thursday via lethal injection after a down-to-the-wire decision by the federal courts halted his death by nitrogen hypoxia in June. In response, Gov. Kay Ivey set the 30-hour window for the execution to be carried out by lethal injection beginning at 12 a.m. on Thursday, September 17, and expiring at 6 a.m. on Friday, September 18. Barring any further court action, the execution will take place at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

Texas House chairman wants child rapists eligible for death penalty

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Under current Supreme Court precedent, states cannot execute someone for raping a child if the victim survives. That’s not stopping State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-McKinney. “We’re going to have a debate in this building behind me about the death penalty being on the table for any Texan who rapes a child,” Leach, the chair of the Texas House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence, said. Leach made the comments while hosting a news conference supporting his client, abuse survivor Cindy Clemishire.

Who Should Bear the Burden of Preventing Pain in US Executions?

A physician uses a cartoon lawsuit to question the burdens US execution law places on condemned prisoners. As a physician, I have spent a career on the far side of a fact pattern I did not choose. This is the moment when something prescribed or administered goes wrong inside a body that trusted it not to. I have seen that more than once. It would be more comfortable to cast myself as the one who gets hurt. It is more honest to say I am the supplier. The drug, the dose, the device, and the airway all enter the body through me. In the cartoon, I am not the coyote. I am Acme.

Georgia is spending more on lethal injections. A law tries to keep the details secret

Georgia prison physician Carlo Musso was one of the rare doctors who’d openly talked about his role in lethal injections . After he stepped away from that work last decade, the state has made it difficult to determine who replaced him. The role Musso held is so controversial that more than a dozen states have made it illegal to disclose the names of those involved with lethal injections. Georgia is among them. The state, through its Lethal Injections Secrecy Act, has gone to great lengths to hide the details around how it carries out lethal injections.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog