Executions of protesters in Iran surge since start of war, human rights groups say

While the total executions carried out in Iran increased to a record number last year, executions performed by the Islamic Republic have been on an “alarming surge” since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began, human rights observers say.

Iranian authorities also appeared to accelerate arrests during the war and the current ceasefire on a range of charges, including espionage and actions against national security, according to Iran's Intelligence Ministry and the IRGC Intelligence Forces, which publish news of recent arrests in different cities almost daily.

Since the war began on Feb. 28, Iranian officials have announced the executions of at least 13 political prisoners.

This comes after at least 1,639 people were executed by the Iranian regime in 2025, which was 68% more than the year before and the highest number recorded since 1989, according to a joint report by Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty, on April 13.

In the latest officially announced execution, Iranian authorities said that Sultan Ali Shirzadi Fakhr was put to death on Thursday on charges including “collaboration with the Israeli intelligence service.” According to Mizan, the judiciary’s news agency, he had been involved in operations against the country.

A day earlier, on Wednesday, Mehdi Farid, a former employee of one of the country's "sensitive state-run organizations," was executed on espionage charges, Mizan reported. The news agency did not clarify what organization Farid had worked for, but added that he was convicted of “corruption on Earth” for alleged cooperation with Israel.

On Tuesday, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic confirmed that Amir Ali Mirjafari, one of the protesters detained during the January protests in the country, was executed by hanging, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

Mizan reported that Mirjafari had allegedly “set fire” to a mosque in Tehran during the protests, accusing him of "collaboration with the Zionist regime, acting against national security and betraying the Iranian people."

There are no independent details available on how the claimed evidence was examined in Mirjafari's case, or whether it could be verified through a transparent judicial process, the U.S.-based Human Rights News Agency (HRANA) said in a statement on Tuesday.

Accusations like “espionage for Israel and the U.S." and “acting against national security” are among the usual charges that the Islamic Republic has used for punishing dissidents, Iranian lawyers and human rights activists told ABC News.

Mai Sato, a U.N. expert on the human rights situation in Iran, previously warned about the new executions in Iran in a post on X, saying that the reported proceedings “include serious violations of fair trial standards.”

In the months before the war with the U.S. and Israel began in late February, the Iranian regime committed massacres to suppress a series of nationwide protests in the country while imposing an internet blackout to prevent the voices of protesters and families of the victims from being heard by the world, and to disrupt their communication with one another, according to the U.S. and international observers.

While protests had been ignited over the severe economic hardships with the dramatic fall of the country’s currency in the last days of 2025, some protesters across the country would go on to demand the fall of the Islamic regime and shout “death to the Islamic Republic.”

According to HRANA, over 7,000 people -- including at least 6,488 protesters -- were killed in the protests, and over 50,000 people were arrested. ABC News could not independently verify those figures.

The first execution of protesters arrested for charges related to January's unrest was officially announced by the Islamic Republic authorities on March 19. The Iranian judiciary said that three protestors -- Saleh Mohammadi, Saeed Davoudi and Mehdi Ghasemi -- were executed for charges including “action in favor of the Israeli regime and the hostile government of the United States of America.”

Amirhossein Hatami, an 18-year-old protester, was one of the dissidents who was executed after the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began. He was executed on April 2, according to Mizan. The report alleged that Hatami was involved in burning government property.

Amnesty International, writing on social media, described Hatami's trial as "grossly unfair."

Two other protesters, Mohammadamin Biglari and Shahin Vahedparast, who had been arrested for the same case as Hatami, were executed three days later on April 5, Mizan reported.

Executions for security and intelligence-related charges are not limited to protesters. Like Farid and Shirzadi, who were executed on espionage charges,  Hamed Validi and Nima Shahi are among the former political prisoners who were executed. They were executed on April 20, on charges of “enmity against God” and “cooperation with Mossad,” according to Iran’s judiciary.

The head of Iran’s Forensic Medicine Organization, Abbas Masjedi, said on April 13 that they had identified 3,375 victims killed during the ongoing war, adding that 2,875 of the victims were men and 496 were women. Given the age breakdown he provided, at least 383 children were among the dead. He didn’t specify how many of those killed were military-affiliated or civilians.