More Iranian teenagers at risk of execution, rights groups warn

Rights groups have warned that more teenagers arrested during Iran's January uprising face imminent execution, saying authorities have intensified the use of death sentences against minors as part of a broader execution campaign.

In a joint statement on Saturday, the organizations Defenders of Children's Rights in Iran and the Center for Justice for Children said they were deeply concerned that authorities could soon execute 18-year-old Shervin Bagherian from Isfahan.

The groups said Bagherian's case demonstrated that death sentences against children and teenagers, issued under what they described as flawed criminal procedures, had become a continuing practice in the Islamic Republic.

Their warning came days after authorities executed another defendant in the same case, 20-year-old Arvin Kheirkhah, at dawn on Saturday, raising fears that Bagherian and other co-defendants could also face imminent execution.

The organizations said Iran had already executed two teenagers, Amir Norollahi and Amirhossein Hatami, in recent months after they were arrested during the January uprising.

Citing information gathered by human rights organizations, including the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners, the groups said at least 184 teenagers detained during the January protests remained in prison as of July 26.

Fourteen had received death sentences, they said, with two already executed and another 12 still at risk.

The warning comes as Iranian authorities increasingly target young protesters who played a prominent role in both the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement and the January uprising, where children and teenagers were among those killed, injured, and detained.

Iran has sharply increased executions since the January protests, with rights groups saying authorities have used the death penalty more aggressively against protesters, political opponents, and people accused of security-related offenses.

Activists say the escalation accelerated further during and after the recent conflict with Israel, as the government widened its crackdown under the cover of wartime security measures.

The statement accused Iran of violating its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits capital punishment for crimes committed by people under the age of 18, regardless of the charges against them.

The groups also criticized authorities' use of national security charges such as moharebeh ("waging war against God") and efsad fel-arz ("corruption on earth") against minors, arguing that coerced confessions, prolonged interrogations, and unfair trials had become the basis for death sentences.

They called on governments, international organizations, journalists, and rights defenders to press for an immediate halt to executions of anyone accused of crimes committed before the age of 18.

Source: Iran International, Staff, August 3, 2026

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but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
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