Execution in Lakan prison, Rasht: Iraqi citizen Ayoub Mohammad Nabil executed in secret

The Islamic Republic secretly executed Ayoub Mohammad Nabil, a 28-year-old Iraqi citizen, in Lakan prison in Rasht. The human rights organisation Hengaw reported the execution on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, saying he was charged with "spying" for Saudi-backed groups; no documents or details of the trial process have been published for this charge.

The execution comes as the conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, backed by the Islamic Republic, has reached a new peak, and Houthi attacks on Saudi airports have left dozens dead and wounded. The execution of a foreign national on charges of cooperating with groups close to Riyadh at this moment has sharpened questions about the Islamic Republic's political use of the death penalty. The exact date of the execution, the time of his arrest and the name of the court that issued the sentence have not been announced.

Three other prisoners executed in Rasht and Semnan

HRANA, citing Iran Human Rights, reported that three other prisoners were executed on Sunday, 11 October, in prisons in Rasht and Semnan. Mehdi Ranjbaran, 48, a father of two from Shahroud, who had been arrested about two years ago after a fight and sentenced to death on a murder charge, was executed in Semnan prison.

Masoud Khodayari and Behnam Mozaffarzadeh, both from Lahijan, were also executed in Rasht prison in separate drug-related cases. Khodayari had been arrested about two years ago and Mozaffarzadeh about four years ago. The Islamic Republic's judicial authorities have not officially announced any of these executions.

The wave of executions in Iran

According to HRANA's annual report, the Islamic Republic executed at least 2,488 people in the Iranian year 1404 (March 2025 to March 2026), including 63 women and two juvenile offenders; 13 executions were carried out in public. In the same period at least 130 new death sentences were issued. Human rights organisations have repeatedly warned that executions for drug-related offences, most of whose victims come from poor and marginalised groups, make up a large share of these figures.

The executions took place in a week when Amnesty International called the execution of five protesters of the January uprising a tool of intimidation and HRANA reported the highest number of executions in a decade.

The Islamic Republic secretly executed an Iraqi citizen in Lakan prison in Rasht on a spying charge, without a transparent trial.