The Revolutionary Court of Bojnurd has sentenced Hadi Abbasian, a 38-year-old protester from Shirvan in North Khorasan province, to death on the charge of "baghi" (armed rebellion). According to a report by Iran International published on Wednesday, 7 October 2026, the court regarded his activity on Instagram and his posting of videos about the protests as an instance of "armed uprising" against the Islamic Republic and issued the death sentence under Article 287 of the Islamic Penal Code.
According to the report, the sentence was communicated to him in Shirvan prison on 5 October. Human rights activist Ebrahim Allahbakhshi also reported on X that the sentence had been communicated, and VOA Persian carried the news. No information has been published on whether the sentence is final.
Arrest, torture and denial of a lawyer
Hadi Abbasian was arrested on 13 May 2026 in the Farhangshahr area of Shirvan. An informed source told Iran International that he was tortured on the first day of his arrest and, after his physical condition deteriorated, was taken first to hospital and then to Shirvan prison.
According to the same source, his family has not been allowed to visit him since his arrest, and judicial and security officials have prevented him from hiring a lawyer; as a result, he has been denied access to a lawyer of his choice throughout the proceedings. Before his arrest, Abbasian had called on people in his videos to join the protests and had said: "I am protesting, and I will not back down from what I say." He had also rejected the accusation of links to Israel and the labelling of protesters as "terrorists".
The Islamic Republic has called posting a protest video on Instagram an "armed uprising" and handed down a death sentence for it.
A new wave of death sentences for detainees of the January uprising
Abbasian's sentence comes as news has emerged in recent days of two other detainees of the January 2026 uprising being sentenced to death. According to the human rights news agency HRANA, as reported by VOA Persian on Tuesday, 6 October, Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, has sentenced Mohsen Babaeian, a political prisoner held in Greater Tehran prison, to death on the charge of "moharebeh". Iran International has also reported a death sentence for Borzou Rezaei in Bojnurd.
In recent months, revolutionary courts have issued death sentences for dozens of protesters detained during the protests of January 2026, and a number of these sentences have been carried out. Oslo-based Iran Human Rights announced on 5 October that it had recorded at least 604 executions in Iran in the first nine months of 2026. US State Department human rights reports also state that revolutionary courts often deny defendants access to a lawyer and sometimes rely on forced confessions obtained under torture.
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