Amnesty International has issued a statement declaring that the public executions of two protesters in recent days, following the arbitrary executions of at least three others last week, signal a dramatic escalation in the Iranian authorities’ reliance on the death penalty to suppress opposition. The human rights organisation warned that at least 60 additional individuals, including three who were minors at the time of their alleged offences, remain at risk of execution, while many others face capital charges in connection with protests.
According to the report, Iranian judicial authorities increasingly invoked broadly defined security charges, such as espionage and cooperation with hostile states, during the first half of 2026 to convict and sentence individuals detained during the January protests. Since the start of the calendar year, at least 26 people convicted on protest-related charges have been executed following unfair trials in Revolutionary Courts that were marred by torture. Amnesty International noted that, in addition to these individuals, at least 26 others were executed on political charges, while hundreds of additional executions were carried out for drug offences and other crimes.
