Iran | January Protesters Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi Hanged; Nine Alikhani Square Defendants Executed

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 3 November 2026: State media reported the executions of Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi, two protesters sentenced to death in Isfahan’s “Alikhani Square” case, were executed in Isfahan Central Prison. Since 19 July, nine protesters, including two Afghan nationals, have been executed in connection with the case, which is marred by due process violations, including torture-tainted confessions and testimonies.
The three remaining defendants in the case, Shervin Bagherian, Ali Dashti and Abolfazl Ebrahimi, are at grave risk of execution.

IHRNGO Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam stated, "The scale of torture and violations of due process in this case is unconscionable. Amirhossein Ebrahimi was not only subjected to torture himself, but authorities also tortured his 16-year-old brother to extract false testimony that served as the key evidence to secure his conviction and death sentence. When even human rights lawyers are arrested and persecuted for defending their clients, we must expect even more executions following grossly unfair trials. Many more protesters are at risk of execution in the coming weeks and months. The international community, particularly European governments, must demonstrate its commitment to fundamental human rights through concrete action to stop these executions and protect the lawyers who defend those at risk.”

According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency, Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi were hanged at an unspecified location on 3 November 2026. IHRNGO has established the location of their execution as Isfahan (Dastgerd) Central Prison. They were sentenced to death on charges of “moharebeh (enmity against God) and efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) through actions against national security, resulting in severe disruption to public order and widespread insecurity, and by drawing weapons to instigate terror, panic, and insecurity in the area.”

Amirhossein Maleki, 19, and Amirhossein Ebrahimi, 19, were arrested in connection with protests in Isfahan’s Alikhani Square on 8 January, where authorities claimed four policemen were killed. According to informed IHRNGO sources, 62 people were arrested in relation to the case, with official sources later reporting that 16 had been indicted. At least a dozen of the 16 defendants were sentenced to death.

Seven defendants in the case were previously executed, with two of them carried out publicly. Erfan Esfandiari and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi were executed at the prison on 19 July, Alireza Sepahi’s cousin, Abolfazl Sepahi and Amirhossein Safari were publicly hanged in Alikhani Square, the scene of the alleged offences, on 28 July, Ghaem Hosseini was executed at the prison on 20 August and Alireza Sepahi and Alireza Raisi were hanged at the prison on 5 October.

On 23 January, state media broadcast the torture-tainted confessions of the defendants, with their faces blurred and names changed to conceal their identities. The forced confessions were used as part of a propaganda video titled “Shock Documentary: The Events of Dey 1404 (December 2025–January 2026) in Isfahan.”

Amirhossein Maleki was born on 8 March 2007. He was 18 at the time of the alleged offence and 19 at the time of his execution. IHRNGO has not been able to obtain independent information about his case at the time of writing.

Born on 13 November 2006, Amirhossein Ebrahimi-Pazveh was executed ten days before his 20th birthday. According to informed sources, he was preparing to start his degree in medicine when he was arrested with his younger brother, who has been sentenced to a four-and-a-half-year prison term.

An informed source told IHRNGO, "Amirhossein himself was subjected to physical and psychological torture, including several mock executions, to extract incriminating confessions. However, the most important piece of evidence against Amirhossein was the testimony they forced out of his little brother. They beat his 16-year-old brother so badly that he had to be hospitalised for eight days; he was almost blinded. They forced him to say that Amirhossein had taken part in the protests with a machete."

The official report acknowledges that defendants had been forced to testify against each other. It states: “A notable aspect of this case is the mutual confessions made by the majority of the defendants against one another, such that twenty of the defendants were present during the reconstruction of the crime scene and detailed the entire incident.”

As all protest cases are considered matters of national security, defendants are systematically denied access to lawyers of their choosing and must instead choose a lawyer from a government-approved list per the Note to Article 48 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP). On 16 May, IHRNGO warned that the Islamic Republic's judiciary is actively weaponising these state-approved lawyers to facilitate and expedite the execution of arrested protesters.

Speaking to IHRNGO about the legal flaws in Amirhossein Ebrahimi’s case, an informed source said, "Two months after the sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court, Amirsalar Davoudi and Shahrzad Shahbazi took on Amirhossein Ebrahimi's defence and an application for a retrial was registered with the Supreme Court. Branch 39 of the Supreme Court overturned the sentence in Amirhossein's case, and the proceedings, alongside the case of Alireza Sepahi, were reopened for review. However, Branch Two reaffirmed the sentence without convening a hearing, processing a case file containing around 8,000 pages in less than 48 hours and forwarding it to the Sentence Enforcement Unit. Subsequently, a retrial application was submitted to Branch 20, which was rejected within 24 hours. Another application was lodged once again with Branch 39, but the judge stated that it was no longer possible to accept it. During this session, Amirsalar Davoudi argued that upholding the sentence without convening a hearing in Branch Two of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court, in defiance of the order issued by the Supreme Court, could itself provide new grounds for a retrial. Nevertheless, the application was rejected, with the Supreme Court judges pointing to pressure from security agencies on the case and remarking that observing formal procedures was more important than the lives of two young men."

The three remaining defendants, Abolfazl Ebrahimi, 18, Ali Dashti, 20, and Shervin Bagherian who was 17 at the time of the alleged offence, are at grave risk of execution. On 2 November, IHRNGO reported that their appeals have recently been rejected by the Supreme Court.

At least 36 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, Siavash Jamshidi-Kheirabadi, Alireza Sepahi Badjani, Alireza Raisi Hassan Hendouyi, Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi-Pazveh.

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

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

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but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
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