Iran has executed three men convicted in connection with protests that swept the country in January, authorities confirmed on Monday, as human rights organisations warned of an accelerating campaign of politically motivated executions. Mehdi Rassouli, 25, Mohammad Reza Miri, 21, and Ebrahim Dolatabadi were hanged at Vakilabad prison in Mashhad, a major city in northeastern Iran, after being tried in connection with unrest in the city's Tabarsi district. The judiciary's official Mizan news agency said Rassouli and Miri had been involved in the killing of a security forces member, while Dolatabadi was described as an "instigator" of the disturbances.
The circumstances of the convictions have drawn sharp condemnation from rights groups. A source familiar with Rassouli's case told the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) that he had informed relatives he only accepted charges after being beaten and tortured, and that his family had been pressured to stay silent with promises of a reduced sentence. The Hengaw Human Rights Organisation said Dolatabadi was executed despite "no evidentiary proof being presented against him," and that his legal process lacked transparency. Sources close to Dolatabadi suggested he had believed his execution might secure the release of two brothers still held in Vakilabad; his 14-year-old son, arrested during the protests, was recently released from a juvenile detention centre, and he is survived by two children aged 9 and 14.
The January protests began in December, initially driven by economic grievances including hyperinflation and the cost of living crisis, before escalating into broader demonstrations against the Islamic Republic, peaking on the nights of 8 and 9 January. Rights groups say thousands were killed in the subsequent crackdown, while Iranian authorities have characterised protesters as foreign-backed "rioters" and in several cases accused defendants — without presenting detailed public evidence — of acting as agents for US or Israeli intelligence.
The executions are part of what activists describe as a near-daily pattern of hangings that has intensified since the start of an armed conflict involving Iran in February. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) organisation says 24 to 30 political prisoners have been executed since that point, in cases linked to the January unrest, alleged membership of opposition groups, or espionage charges. Iran already recorded at least 1,500 to 1,639 executions in the previous year — the second highest number in the world after China — and the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran has said the rate has risen sharply since the war began. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has described executions as an "instrument of state intimidation," particularly following what analysts view as a period of military and political pressure on the Iranian government.
Rights organisations are calling on the international community to act. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of IHR, urged the European Union to respond "decisively," warning that without a clear political cost being imposed on Tehran, daily executions could continue for months. Amnesty International has separately documented 13 cases in which it says men were tortured, tried in proceedings lasting only a few hours, and convicted on the basis of forced confessions. "The international community must not stand idly by," Amnesty said in a statement last week, as pressure mounts on governments to respond to what rights groups are calling a systematic use of the death penalty as a tool of political control.