A person's mouth covered with tape bearing a message “no to executions” in Iran, in Paris in France, January 31, 2026.
Within a span of only five months, between March 18 and the end of August 2026, Iran’s authorities announced the executions of 29 people in connection with recent protests. These executions were unlawful and in violation of international human rights law. Several protesters executed were teenagers aged 18 and 19. Scores more remain at imminent risk of execution. Some executions have been carried out in public to further instill fear, marking a significant escalation. Executions have followed grossly unfair and summary proceedings, ranging in protest-related cases from just over five weeks to less than eight months from arrest to execution. In most cases, no allegations of killings have been made and protesters have been convicted of vague national security charges and executed for acts such as allegedly damaging public property, throwing stones, or breaking into government buildings. Urgent and coordinated diplomatic action by UN member states is needed, including to encourage the use of measures such as universal jurisdiction to hold officials responsible for serious international crimes, including torture and enforced disappearances, to account.
(Beirut) – Iranian authorities are unlawfully executing protesters and political dissidents on a weekly basis, a relentless attack on the right to life, Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran said today.
Between March 18 and end of August 2026, authorities arbitrarily executed at least 59 men on politically motivated and vague national security charges following grossly unfair trials. They include at least 29 arrested in connection with December 2025-January 2026 protests and at least 3 reportedly arrested in connection with the 2022 Woman, Life, Freed
