Iran | One 'January Protester' Hanged Per Week Since March

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 3 October 2026: State media reported the execution of Siavash Jamshidi-Kheirabadi, a protester arrested in connection with the protests in Shahrekord on 8 January. The exact location of the execution has not been specified.

Siavash Jamshidi-Kheirabadi is the 32nd individual to be executed in connection with the January nationwide protests since 19 March, representing an average rate of one protester execution per week.

Condemning Siavash Jamshidi-Kheirabadi’s execution in the strongest terms, IHRNGO once again draws the international community’s attention to the unprecedented rate of political prisoners’ executions in Iran.

Citing the absence of due process and the sentencing of protesters to death based on forced confessions, IHRNGO Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam stated, "The execution of one protester every week is unprecedented since the 1980s. At the same time, more than 100 protesters are currently at risk of execution, while hundreds more face the possibility of being sentenced to death. The international community must act immediately and use all available diplomatic tools to halt this wave of executions and secure a suspension of the death penalty in Iran.”

According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency, Siavash Jamshidi-Kheirabadi, a protester arrested in connection with the 8 January protests, was hanged at an unspecified location in Shahrekord, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. The Iranian Student’s News Agency (ISNA) reported that the execution took place on 3 October 2026. He was sentenced to death on charges of moharebeh (enmity against God) through drawing and firing a firearm, as well as assembly and collusion against national security.

The Mizan report states, "The reasons cited by the court for issuing the death sentence included reports from officers who witnessed the defendant fire at least three shots and noted his registration plate; his arrest two days later with the same car and weapon; preliminary investigations by the prosecutor's office in which the defendant explicitly confessed to drawing a firearm and shooting during gatherings; statements from witnesses and informants indicating he always carried a weapon and even stated ‘bullets should be spent on them'; messages exchanged by the defendant regarding his participation and shooting during riots; the recovery of several military weapons; and his unsubstantiated defence.”

Crucially, state media reports contain no allegation that any fatalities resulted from his alleged actions. No independent information is available about Siavash Jamshidi-Kheirabadi’s case.

IHRNGO has documented the systemic use of torture and the 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.

On 14 September, IHRNGO identified 100 protesters at risk of execution in just 13 of Iran’s 31 provinces.

At least 32 protesters have been executed in connection to the December 2025–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, Gol Mohammad Mohammadi, Mehdi Khanaki, Abolfazl Sepahi Badjani, Amirhossein Safari Hosseinabadi, Shahram Sadeghi, Ghaem Hosseini, Majid Adineh, Majid Nikandish, Ali Hemati-Sistani and Siavosh Jamshidi-Kheirabadi.

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

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, October 3, 2026

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but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

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