Iran executes another protester detained during January protest

ERBIl, Kurdistan Region - Iranian authorities on Saturday executed another protester detained during anti-government protests, accusing him of collaboration with Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, state media reported.

Erfan Kiani was detained in January in the city of Isfahan and was charged with setting public property on fire and carrying a bladed weapon, according to Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Iranian authorities have said they would show no mercy to those accused of collaborating with the enemy during the January protests and the six-week war with Israel and the United States.

“In dealing with spies, traitorous elements, and foot soldiers of the aggressor, our posture is fully combative and aligned with wartime requirements,” Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said in a post on X earlier this month.

In mid-April, Iranian authorities signaled a push to fast-track trials for thousands of detainees held during the six-week war, raising concerns among rights watchdogs over a potential wave of executions under wartime conditions.

Several individuals who took part in the January protests have been executed in recent weeks following the attack by the United States and Israel on February 28, which lasted for six weeks and targeted over 15,000 locations across Iran.

Security and intelligence forces detained more than 20,000 people during the protests and the six-week war, accusing them of collaboration with the enemy - a charge that carries the death penalty.

Human rights organizations have warned about the high number of executions carried out by the government in Tehran, describing them as a tool of repression to silence dissent.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that Iran carried out 2,063 executions during 2025 - the highest number recorded in around three and a half decades.

“Destruction of public and private property, arson, carrying and using Molotov cocktails, possession of a bladed weapon (machete), blocking roads, attacking officers, and spreading fear among citizens are among the most significant criminal acts attributed to the convict, as stated in the case file,” Tasnim said.

Amnesty International warned about other imminent executions on Friday related to the January protest. “Cousins Peyvand Naimi and Borna Naimi from Iran’s persecuted Baha’i minority may be at risk of the death penalty."

Authorities are accusing them of capital offences linked to the January 2026 protests,” Amnesty said. “Agents subjected them to torture and other ill-treatment including beatings, mock executions and electric shocks to force “confessions” and have denied them access to lawyers and medical care.”