Arman Marefati, a 30-year-old political prisoner from Saqqez who was arrested in Tehran during the Dey 1404 uprising, is at imminent risk of execution after the Islamic Republic's Supreme Court upheld his death sentence. In a message published on the evening of Thursday 5 November 2026, Prince Reza Pahlavi's press office warned that he is being held in Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj and that the sentence could be carried out at any moment.
The Prince's office wrote that more than 70 political prisoners have been executed by the Islamic Republic since Dey and that more than 100 others are at risk of execution. It called the executions "state murder", carried out without "the most basic principles of due process", and described them as an attempt to silence the nation through terror. Recalling Prince Reza Pahlavi's recent remarks in the European Parliament, the message urged everyone to carry the voices of political prisoners facing execution to the world. The message is part of the "Last Breath" campaign.
The case of Arman Marefati
Arman Marefati was arrested by security forces in Tehran during the protests of 8 and 9 January 2026. Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Abolghasem Salavati, sentenced him to death. According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, he had no access to a lawyer of his choice in that court, and the Islamic Republic's Supreme Court upheld the sentence after a hasty review.
On 25 May 2026 he was transferred from Greater Tehran prison to Ghezel Hesar prison, a move that raised fears from the start that the sentence would soon be carried out. Ashkan Maleki and Mehrdad Mohammadinia, two other defendants in the same case, were executed in the same prison on 1 June 2026.
A wave of death sentences for protesters
Arman Marefati's case is one of dozens of cases of Dey uprising protesters who face harsh sentences. This week Branch 5 of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court sentenced Matin Shabani, a Dey uprising protester in Shandiz, to death. On Thursday 5 November the US State Department also condemned the issuing and carrying out of death sentences in Iran, calling them a calculated tool to spread fear.
The Islamic Republic's Supreme Court has upheld Arman Marefati's death sentence, and two of his co-defendants have already been executed in Ghezel Hesar.
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