The List Keeps Growing: Protesters Executed After Iran’s January Uprising

The list keeps growing.

Since the nationwide uprising that swept Iran in late December 2025 and January 2026, Iranian authorities have executed an increasing number of people arrested in connection with the demonstrations.

By August 23, Iran Human Rights had documented at least 29 protesters executed in connection with the December 2025–January 2026 protests since March 19.

Other human-rights organizations have documented additional protest-linked executions whose circumstances remain under investigation.

These are not abstract numbers.

They were young men, workers, athletes, fathers and protesters who entered detention alive and later left Iran’s prisons in body bags.

Human-rights organizations have repeatedly reported allegations of torture, coerced confessions, denial of independent lawyers and trials that failed to meet basic international standards.

And yet the executions continue. iranhr.net

The Confirmed List

According to Iran Human Rights, these 29 people had been executed in connection with the January uprising by August 23:

Saleh Mohammadi — March 19, 2026
Saeed Davodi — March 19, 2026
Mehdi Ghasemi — March 19, 2026
Amirhossein Hatami — April 2, 2026
Mohammad Amin Biglari — April 5, 2026
Shahin Vahedparast Kolor — April 5, 2026
Ali Fahim — April 6, 2026
Amir Ali Mir Jafari — April 21, 2026
Erfan Kiani — April 25, 2026
Sasan Azadvar — April 30, 2026
Ebrahim Dolatabadnejad — May 3, 2026
Mehdi Rasouli — May 3, 2026
Mohammadreza Miri — May 3, 2026
Mohammad Abbasi — May 13, 2026
Abbas Akbari Feizabadi — May 25, 2026
Ashkan Maleki — June 1, 2026
Mehrdad Mohammadinia — June 1, 2026
Fathollah Avari — June 2, 2026
Javad Zamani — June 16, 2026
Abolfazl Saedi — June 16, 2026
Mohammad Amini Dehaghani — July 15, 2026
Erfan Esfandiari — July 19, 2026
Gol Mohammad Mohammadi — July 19, 2026
Mehdi Khanaki — July 22, 2026
Abolfazl Sepahi Badjani — July 28, 2026
Amirhossein Safari Hosseinabadi — July 28, 2026
Shahram Sadeghi — August 16, 2026
Ghaem Hosseini — August 20, 2026
Majid Adineh — August 23, 2026

Iran Human Rights explicitly identified Majid Adineh as the 29th protester executed in connection with the January demonstrations. iranhr.net

Arvin Kheirkhahan: Another Protester Executed

Another name must also be remembered.

Arvin Kheirkhahan, a 19-year-old arrested during the January protests, was executed in Shahroud Prison at around 4 a.m. on August 1.

HRANA reported that he had been sentenced to death for moharebeh, or “enmity against God.”

His relatives gathered outside the prison shortly before the execution in an attempt to save his life.

Iran Human Rights subsequently confirmed his execution but said it was still investigating the circumstances of his case and the specific acts authorities alleged against him. Hrana

For that reason, the safest formulation today is:

At least 29 executions are formally counted by Iran Human Rights as directly connected to the January uprising, while additional protest-linked executions such as that of Arvin Kheirkhahan have been documented by other rights organizations.

The Numbers Continue to Rise

This is not a historical list.

It is an expanding one.

In June alone, Iran Human Rights documented at least 101 executions across Iran, bringing the number of executions during the first six months of 2026 to more than 370. By late August, the organization’s running total for all executions in Iran during 2026 had already exceeded 500. iranhr.net

Not all of those executions involved protesters or political prisoners.

But the rapid rise in politically motivated executions is especially alarming.

Human Rights Watch reported in late July that at least 50 people had been executed over a four-month period on vague national-security charges, alongside a growing number of protesters. Human Rights Watch

Amnesty International has similarly warned that Iranian authorities are using the death penalty as a tool to crush dissent.

By late July, Amnesty said at least 60 more protesters were believed to remain at risk of execution, including people arrested when they were children. Amnesty International

Torture, Forced Confessions and Unfair Trials

The central problem is not merely that executions are taking place.

It is how many of these cases have been handled.

Human-rights organizations have documented recurring allegations of:

torture and other ill-treatment;
forced televised confessions;
defendants being denied lawyers of their choosing;
rapidly conducted Revolutionary Court proceedings;
families being threatened into silence;
secret executions;
and death sentences imposed after proceedings that fall far below international fair-trial standards.

Iran Human Rights says these practices are systematic in capital cases involving protesters. iranhr.net

Amnesty International described the proceedings against protest detainees as grossly unfair and warned that the authorities have accelerated capital prosecutions since the war began earlier this year. Amnesty International

Human-Rights Institutions Have Raised the Alarm — But the Gallows Remain

Amnesty International has issued urgent warnings.

Human Rights Watch has condemned the executions.

Iran Human Rights has repeatedly called on European governments and the international community to make a moratorium on executions a central condition of engagement with Tehran.

The United Nations has condemned executions and mass arrests.

Yet the names continue to be added.

That does not mean these organizations are responsible for the killings or that their work is meaningless.

Their investigations document abuses, preserve evidence, pressure governments and sometimes help save lives.

But the reality remains painful:

warnings alone have not stopped Iran’s execution machinery.

By May, Amnesty had already identified dozens of protesters and dissidents facing execution. By July, the danger had expanded further. By August, still more protesters had been hanged. Amnesty International

Prison or Street — The Threat Remains

For many Iranians who challenge the authorities, the danger does not end when a demonstration ends.

People can be killed during protests.

Others survive the streets only to be arrested.

Once inside detention, they can face interrogation, torture allegations, Revolutionary Court proceedings and ultimately execution.

That reality creates a brutal cycle:

violence in the streets, arrest, imprisonment, death sentences and executions.

No government should be allowed to answer political dissent in this way.

Iran’s People Have the Right to Choose a Different Future

Iranians have the right to reject the political system under which they live.

They have the right to demand fundamental constitutional and political change.

They have the right to campaign peacefully for a secular republic, constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy or any other political order they freely choose.

They have the right to remove leaders through a peaceful democratic transition and replace institutions that no longer represent them.

And they have the right to do all of this without being shot in the streets or hanged in prison.

No judicial system should be used as an instrument of political terror.

No confession extracted through torture should send a person to the gallows.

No family should be silenced while officials prepare to execute their child.

The List Must Stop Growing

Saleh Mohammadi was once the first name.

Then there were three.

Then ten.

Then twenty.

Now Iran Human Rights has documented at least twenty-nine protesters executed in connection with the January uprising, while other organizations have reported additional cases.

Unless the execution campaign is halted, there will be a thirtieth name.

And then a thirty-first.

The immediate demand should be unambiguous:

Stop protest-related executions.

Release people imprisoned solely for peaceful political activity.

End torture and forced confessions.

Guarantee independent legal representation and transparent trials.

And allow Iran’s people to determine their political future without violence or fear.

The names already on this list cannot be saved.

Those still alive can.