ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian authorities have hanged two Kurdish protesters detained during the January anti-government demonstrations, during which security forces killed thousands of protesters and detained more than 20,000 people in the ensuing crackdown.
Mehrdad Mohammadinia and Ashkan Maleki are the latest protesters to be hanged by authorities, who have pledged to show no mercy to those who took part in the protests, describing them as “rioters” and agents of Israel and the US.
At least 30 protesters and political prisoners have been hanged since February 28, when the US and Israel launched an extensive aerial campaign against Tehran, targeting over 17,000 locations across the country.
According to the Oslo-based Hengaw Human Rights Organization, Maleki and Mohammadinia are Kurdish residents of Qorveh County in Kurdistan province. Hengaw also said that Arman Marefati, from Saqqez, is “at imminent risk of execution.”
“Mehrdad Mohammadinia, son of Moharram, and Ashkan Maleki, son of Ali, were among the main figures involved in setting fire to Jafari Mosque in Tehran’s Koy-e Nasr neighborhood,” a statement from the judiciary carried by state media said. “They had carried out the intentional destruction and burning of the mosque, destruction of public property, clashes with police and security forces, blocking streets, and preventing people from moving freely.”
State media said the detainees had confessed to involvement in the charges brought against them.
Iran has long used the death penalty as a tool of state repression and to stifle dissent.
Authorities systematically use torture to extract self-incriminating confessions, which are then used in kangaroo revolutionary court proceedings to convict protesters of crimes that carry the death penalty.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that Iran carried out 2,063 executions in 2025 - the highest number recorded in around three and a half decades. Two human rights organizations have warned that if the current regime stays in power, it could carry out another mass execution of prisoners detained during the January protests and the recent war.
Amnesty International said on Thursday that Islamic Republic authorities have “weaponised the death penalty to repress dissent,” with senior government and judiciary officials calling for expedited proceedings to punish those detained since the January protests.
Hassan Aghakhani, a lawyer representing detained protesters, said on Sunday that one of his clients, Masoud Piahoo, who took an iconic photo of a protester sitting in defiance in front of security forces, had been sentenced to ten years in prison. Piahoo was a merchant in Tehran’s bazaar and had posted the photo on his private Instagram account, according to the lawyer.
Authorities have detained thousands of people in recent weeks following the April 8 ceasefire between Iran and the US, accusing them of providing material to the US and Israel in the form of photos and videos of locations struck during the six-week aerial bombing campaign.
Updated at 9:30.