Amnesty: at least 20 January uprising protesters at imminent risk of execution

In a statement published on Thursday, 16 October 2026, Amnesty International warned that at least 20 people are at imminent risk of execution in connection with the January uprising. According to the organization, since March this year the Islamic Republic's Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences of at least 20 more defendants in these cases, two of whom were under 18 at the time of the alleged offence.

Amnesty International said these protesters were tried on charges of "moharebeh" (waging war against God) and "corruption on earth" in Revolutionary Courts, which, according to the organization, denied the defendants access to a lawyer before trial, gave lawyers the case files late or never, and based verdicts on forced confessions. The organization has also documented torture with electric shocks, beatings and prolonged solitary confinement. By Amnesty International's count, the number of protesters executed so far in connection with the January uprising has reached at least 34.

The Alikhani Square case in Isfahan

According to Amnesty International, eight more people are at risk of execution in the Alikhani Square case in Isfahan. The prosecution accused them of taking part in the 8 January protests in Isfahan and of involvement in the deaths of four security personnel. Seven other defendants in the same case were executed between late July and October, including Alireza Raisi and Alireza Sepahi, who were executed in Isfahan on 5 October. The Supreme Court had ordered a retrial for Alireza Sepahi, but a branch of the Revolutionary Court refused to hold a new hearing. Abolfazl Sepahi and Amirhossein Safari Hosseinabadi were also publicly executed in the same square on 28 July.

The head of the Isfahan provincial judiciary promised in a public speech on 11 October to give priority to carrying out the death sentences of protesters and called them "coup plotters".

Four Pakdasht defendants and Ali-Asghar Peighambari

Amnesty International also named four men sentenced to death in the case of the fire at the Basij base in Pakdasht: Ahad Shokouhian, Ehsan Hosseinpour Hesarloo, Erfan Amiri and Matin Mohammadi. According to the organization, Erfan Amiri and Matin Mohammadi were under 18 at the time of the alleged offence. Under international law, executing people who were children at the time of the alleged offence is prohibited.

Ali-Asghar Peighambari, who was arrested after taking part in a protest gathering, has, according to his lawyer, been sentenced to death under the law on intensifying punishment for espionage and cooperation with Israel, a law passed after the 12-day war in June 2025.

A wave of executions under wartime conditions

Amnesty International says that after the US and Israeli strikes on 28 February, the Islamic Republic stepped up domestic repression under the pretext of "wartime conditions", and that at least 67 people, including protesters and opponents, have been executed on political charges. The warning was published a few days after the execution of Majid Nikandish, a 25-year-old January uprising protester in Mashhad, and coincides with the condemnation of the crackdown and executions by European Union leaders. Amnesty International had earlier called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Iran to the International Criminal Court.

Since March, the Islamic Republic's Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences of at least 20 more protesters.