Iran | January Protester Hossein Nazari Sentenced to Death in Mashhad

Hossein Nazari, a 25-year-old citizen arrested during the January protests, has been sentenced to death by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad.

HRANA news agency reported on Wednesday, August 26, that the verdict was handed down in July and that Nazari is currently being held in Mashhad’s Vakilabad Prison.

The court charged him with “communicating with hostile states and groups” and “assembly and collusion to commit crimes against national security.”

No details have been provided regarding the specific evidence cited by the court, the underlying acts supporting these charges, Nazari’s access to independent legal representation, or the legal proceedings of his trial.

Security forces arrested Hossein Nazari in January. Following interrogation, he was transferred to Vakilabad Prison, where he remains incarcerated.

The issuance of this sentence comes amid an escalating wave of severe penalties handed down against individuals detained during the January protests.

The issuance and execution of death sentences in Iran have increased significantly following the January 2026 protests, particularly after the outbreak of the 40-day war. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center reported that at least 901 executions were recorded in the first seven months of 2026, including 56 cases involving political or national security charges and 98 individuals from ethnic minorities, a clear sign of the surging use of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic in recent years.

According to a report published by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, a Washington-based Iranian human rights organization, the Islamic Republic has executed at least 900 people since the beginning of 2026, with 28 executions carried out in August alone.

Source: IRANWIRE, Staff, August 26, 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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