Legal News and Views - Asia Pacific and Beyond

At Least 22 Executed in Six Weeks as Secret Trials, Torture, and Forced Confessions Drive a Wave of Death Sentences 

At Least 22 Executed in Six Weeks as Secret Trials, Torture, and Forced Confessions Drive a Wave of Death Sentences

Protesters, Women, and Juveniles Swept into a Fast-Tracked System of State Retribution for Dissent

April 30, 2026 — In an extraordinary increase in the use of the death penalty as a political tool of repression, in the last six weeks the Islamic Republic has hanged at least 22 political prisoners, including ten detained during the January 2026 protests—an average of one execution every two days—following secretive proceedings marked by torture, forced “confessions,” and the complete absence of due process, according to new research by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

Key Findings: A Systematic Campaign of Political Executions

  • At least 22 political prisoners were executed between March 17 and April 27, 2026.
  • Ten of these executed prisoners were protesters arrested during the January 2026 nationwide protests.
  • Most of these executions were carried out in secret and without prior notice to the families or lawyers.
  • The executions followed fast-tracked and grossly unfair trials that lacked due process and relied on forced “confessions” extracted under torture.
  • Dozens more arrested during the January protests have been sentenced to death following torture, forced “confessions,” and sham trials without independent lawyers.
  • At least two women and three 17-year-old juveniles are among those recently sentenced to death in connection with the January protests.
  • Hundreds more may be facing charges that can result in a death sentence.
  • The continuation of mass arrests across the country—at least 4000 just since the war began on February 28—and the blocking of lawyers from taking cases, ensures that more death sentences will follow.

“These executions are a core part of a systematic state policy aimed at crushing dissent. The death sentences are built on torture, secrecy, and sham trials, and they are designed to send a clear message: dissent in the Islamic Republic will be met with death,” said Esfandiar Aban, Director of Research at CHRI.

“Young people who took to the streets to demand their freedom are now being marched to the gallows. This is retaliatory state violence, carried out methodically, one life at a time, in the hope that the world is too distracted to act,” Aban said.

CHRI calls on governments, multilateral institutions, and UN bodies to take urgent, concrete action:

  • Demand an immediate moratorium on all executions in Iran, with clear consequences for non-compliance.
  • Condition diplomatic engagement on measurable human rights benchmarks, including halting executions and the release of political prisoners.
  • Demand the immediate release of all individuals detained for peaceful protest or political expression.
  • Support secure communication tools and internet access for Iranians, so Iranians—and the world—can know the true magnitude of what is happening in Iran.
  • Pursue evidence collection for future prosecutions under universal jurisdiction and crimes against humanity frameworks.

True Numbers Higher, Arbitrary Arrests Continue, Lawyers Blocked from Taking Cases

The true number of individuals sentenced to death or facing charges that can carry the death penalty is undoubtedly higher than what is currently known, perhaps significantly so. The government’s internet shutdown, the hundreds of people who were forcibly disappeared after the January protests, and the Islamic Republic’s routine practice of carrying out executions in secret have made it impossible to obtain comprehensive information from inside Iran.

Meanwhile, arbitrary arrests continue to take place across the country, which means more individuals will continue to be rounded up, tortured, forced to “confess,” and face manufactured national security charges (routinely used against protesters and political prisoners) and sham trials that will result in more death sentences. CHRI estimates that at least 4,000 arrests have taken place across the country just since the outbreak of the war on February 28.

Investigations by CHRI also indicate that, following the January protests, during which thousands were killed by state security forces, as well as since the outbreak of the war, access by independent lawyers to defendants’ case files has become impossible or even more severely restricted than was previously the case. In many instances, lawyers have even been prevented from entering prosecutors’ offices.

CHRI’s findings further show that in a number of cases, judicial authorities—including the presiding judge—have simply refused to allow independent and human rights lawyers to participate in the proceedings.

On April 29, 2026, the news outlet Emtedad reported that the Iranian Judiciary had opened a case against two human rights lawyers, Amir Raeisian and Milad Panahipour. The charges stem from their public reporting on the case of Ehsan Hosseinipour, a detainee from the January protests, as well as their signing of a statement protesting the handling of recent protest-related cases. The two lawyers were summoned to the Security Prosecutor’s Office and were temporarily released on bail.

At Least 22 Political Prisoners Hanged Since the War

Between March 17 and April 27, 2026, at least 22 political prisoners, including ten detained during the January protests, are known to have been executed, according to CHRI. There may well have been additional (secret) executions, a standard practice in the Islamic Republic. The breakdown of these political executions is as follows:

Protesters Hanged Who Were Arrested in January 2026:

Political Prisoners Hanged for Alleged Membership in the MEK opposition group:

Baluch Political Prisoner Hanged for Alleged Membership in an Opposition Group:

Individuals Hanged for Alleged Espionage-Related Charges:

A source familiar with the case of Mehdi Farid told CHRI:

“Prison officials informed Mehdi’s family—an elderly couple—the day before the execution to come to the prison for a visit. However, neither they nor Mehdi himself were told that he was scheduled to be executed the next day. After carrying out the execution, authorities notified his family but did not hand over his body, stating that they would handle the burial themselves and would later inform the family of the burial site.”

“The use of the death penalty as a political tool on this scale has not been seen since the 1980s in Iran,” said Aban. “The number of political prisoners executed during this 6-week period since the war actually exceeds nonpolitical executions—even though the Islamic Republic executes more people per capita for a variety of “criminal” offenses than any other country in the world,” he added.

Death Penalty Cases

Due to the severe lack of accessible information on prisoners and their cases, the actual number of death penalty cases is undoubtedly higher than reported here, and the status of many prisoners remains difficult to assess. Moreover, the blurring of the boundaries between these cases creates further opacity.

For example, cases that have not been upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court, and thus could ostensibly still be appealed, would normally not be considered “imminent risk” cases. Yet these individuals may still be at imminent risk of execution because the fast-tracked prosecutions undertaken by the Judiciary since the war have resulted in executions carried out for cases that only had an initial ruling, and had not even gone through the appeal process yet.

CHRI has categorized the death penalty cases into four groups.

  1. The first includes individuals who were handed death sentences in 2026, most of whom are protesters arrested in January.
  2. The second includes individuals whose death sentences (most issued in 2026, but including some cases in which the initial death sentences were issued earlier) were upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court in 2026, placing them at heightened risk of execution.
  3. The third includes individuals whose death sentences were already upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court in previous years, meaning their executions could be carried out at any moment.
  4. The fourth group includes individuals who have been charged with capital offenses, meaning they are at risk of receiving death sentences.

Please read CHRI’s full report on our website for detailed, extensive case information on all of the above categories, as well as statements by Iranian officials regarding their state policy regarding the death penalty for protesters and political prisoners.