IRAN - Political Prisoners on Death Row (IranHRM)

IRAN - Exclusive Report on Political Prisoners on Death Row

March 19, 2026:

March 19, 2026 - IRAN. Exclusive Report on Political Prisoners on Death Row and Recent Victims in Iran

Execution as a Political Weapon
While the world moves toward the abolition of the death penalty, the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to use “execution” as its most extreme and irreversible tool of repression against political opponents. This report contains a documented list of political prisoners on the verge of execution. Beyond their ethnic or ideological affiliations, these individuals are victims of a system that sacrifices the “Right to Life” for its own political survival.
Warning: All sentences in this list were issued through judicial processes that lack the minimum standards of a “Fair Trial” as mandated by Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Executions from Childhood to Old Age: Systematic Violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Fundamental Human Rights
The Iranian judiciary has disregarded age limits and its international obligations in issuing death sentences. The age range of the condemned indicates a “blind repression”:
- Child-Defendants: The shocking case of Soleiman Shahbakhsh, who was arrested at the age of 12 and subsequently sentenced to death, serves as evidence of the sovereign state’s gross violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- The Elderly: The presence of individuals up to 70 years of age on this list demonstrates that the execution machine shows no human or legal consideration, even toward the elderly.

Systemic Discrimination: Targeting Ethnic and Religious Minorities
The list of those sentenced to death is a mirror image of the double-repression in Iran’s marginalized regions. The high frequency of names from Sistan and Baluchistan, Kurdistan, and Khuzestan provinces reveals the instrumental use of security charges to silence ethnic demands.
- Repetitive Charges: “Baghi” (Armed rebellion against the state) and “Moharebeh” (Enmity against God) are standard labels used against Kurdish, Baluch, and Arab activists to portray their civil activities as “terrorist” acts.

Anatomy of Charges: Judicial Framing in a Legal Vacuum
The majority of those on this list face “elastic” and vague charges that lack precise legal definitions, allowing for arbitrary judicial interpretation:
- Efsad-fel-Arz (Corruption on Earth) and Moharebeh: Often based on forced confessions extracted under torture.
- Espionage and Collaboration with Hostile States: A label used to eliminate political opponents and opposition activists without the presentation of a single credible physical or digital document.
- Lack of Transparency: Proceedings are conducted behind closed doors in “Revolutionary Courts” without the right to access an independent lawyer during the preliminary investigation phase.

The Geography of Repression: Critical Prison Hubs
Those sentenced to death are scattered across the country, but the concentration in specific prisons has turned these facilities into “Waiting Chambers of Torture”:
- Evin and Qezel Hesar (Tehran/Karaj): The primary hubs for political and ideological executions.
- Urmia, Vakilabad (Mashhad), and Sepidar (Ahvaz): Centers from which horrific reports of white and physical torture for the extraction of confessions have been transmitted.

Gendered Repression: Women on the Death Row
The issuance of death sentences for women such as Zahra Shahbaz Tabari on charges of membership in opposition groups signals a new phase in the crackdown on female activists. By issuing death warrants for women, the regime seeks to break the front lines of social protests that have been the catalysts for change in Iran in recent years.

Systemic Violation of Domestic and International Laws Under the Culture of Impunity
A) Violations of International Law:
- Article 6 (ICCPR): The inherent right to life and the prohibition of execution where a fair trial has not been conducted.
- Article 7 (ICCPR): Prohibition of torture and inhumane treatment (during interrogation and the wait for execution).
- Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Absolute prohibition of the death penalty for individuals who were under 18 at the time of the alleged crime.
- Article 14 (ICCPR): Violation of the right to access an independent lawyer and a competent, impartial tribunal.
B) Violations of Domestic Law (Iran):
- Article 38 of the Constitution: Prohibition of any form of torture to extract confessions (which forms the basis of most of these death sentences).
- Article 5 of the Islamic Penal Code: Requirement for proportionality between crime and punishment.
- Article 4 of the Criminal Procedure Code: The presumption of innocence, which is entirely disregarded in Revolutionary Courts.

Demands and Urgent Call to Action
Execution under the Islamic Republic is a state-organized crime. Iran HRM calls on Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur, and all human rights organizations to take the following actions:
- Diplomatic Pressure: To immediately halt the execution machine in Iran.
- Case Reviews: Deployment of monitoring missions to investigate the judicial proceedings of political prisoners sentenced to death.
- Ending Impunity: Criminal prosecution of judges issuing death warrants within the framework of Universal Jurisdiction.
The cessation of the execution machine in Iran is not merely a legal demand; it is an effort to prevent a widespread “Political Purge.” The silence of the international community regarding this list is a tacit endorsement of state-sponsored killings. It is time for the Iranian government to face serious and punitive international consequences for using “Death” as a tool of governance.

Appendix: List of Names
Part One: List of Political and Ideological Prisoners Awaiting Execution (Current Convicts)

A) Detainees of the January 2026 Nationwide Protests
- Amiri, Erfan
- Biglari, Mohammad Amin
- Tabari, Mohammad Reza
- Hatami, Amir Hossein
- Hosseini‑Pour Hesarlou, Ehsan
- Rajaeifar, Yaser
- Zohdi, Shahab
- Salehi Siavashani, Abolfazl
- Abbasi, Mohammad
- Fahim, Ali
- Karimi, Abolfazl
- Mohammadi, Matin
- Vahed‑Parast Kalour, Shahin

B) Other Political and Ideological Prisoners Sentenced to Death
- Aghal, Omran
- Ahmadi, Yousef
- Eslam-Zehi, Nasimeh
- Etemadifar, Farshad
- Afrashteh, Ehsan
- Ozdemir, Hatem
- Baranzehi, Farhad
- Bekrzadeh, Nasser
- Bani-Amerian, Vahid
- Beigzadeh Babamiri, Rezgar
- Tabaari Moghaddam, Omid
- Taghavi Sang-Dehi, Seyyed Mohammad
- Jame’i (Bavi), Massoud
- Jalali, Ahmadreza
- Hassanzehi, Farshid
- Khojasteh, Karim
- Daneshvarkar, Akbar (Shahrokh)
- Davarshenas (Mousavi), Malek
- Deris, Abbas
- Zeleh, Ramin
- Zeineddini, Mohammad
- Soltani, Pejman
- Soleimani, Mohammad Mehdi
- Shahi, Nima
- Sharifi, Mehdi
- Shahbaz Tabari, Zahra
- Shahbakhsh, Soleiman
- Shahbakhsh, Abdolghani
- Shahbakhsh, Eido
- Sheikh-Ma’roufi, Raouf
- Salehi, Kaveh
- Abdali (Daghagheleh), Reza
- Abdollahzadeh, Mehrab
- Obeidavi, Ali
- Azizi, Pakhshan
- Alipour, Babak
- Eidmohammadi, Issa
- Faraji, Mohammad
- Farah-Avar Gisavandani, Amin
- Farid, Mehdi
- Faridi, Ehsan
- Fallah, Manouchehr
- Ghassemi, Souran (Ali)
- Ghobadi Bistooni, Pouya
- Ghorbani Mishani, Afshin
- Ghanbarzehi Gorgij, Abdolrahim
- Kabdani, Yasin
- Karim-Pour, Yaghoub
- Koushki, Abdolamir
- Moradi, Varisha
- Mardasi (Hamidavi), Alireza
- Montazer, Seyyed Abolhasan
- Mohnapour, Morteza
- Naroui, Adham
- Naroui, Mohammad Darvish
- Nourmohammadi, Armin
- Vafaei Thani, Mohammad Javad
- Validi, Hamed
- Hassan (Last Name Unknown)

Part Two: List of Political Executions in Year 1404 (2025-2026)
- Shakeri, Farhud
- Gorgij, Abdolhakim Azim
- Fadaei Nasab, Malek Ali
- Gorgij, Abdolrahman
- Hosseini-Nejad Heydaranlou, Hamid
- Kurkur, Mojahed (Abbas)
- Ehsani Eslamlou, Behrouz
- Hassani, Mehdi
- Khanfari, Moein
- Deris, Habib
- Majdam, Ali
- Mohammadi Khiyareh, Saman
- Moghaddam, Mohammad Reza
- Mousavi Al-Boshokeh, Seyyed Salem
- Mousavi Ghobishavi (Al-Boshokeh), Seyyed Adnan- Sheikhi, Arsalan

(for more details on the prisoners, see: https://iran-hrm.com/2026/03/19/political-prisoners-death-row-recent-victims-iran/)

https://iran-hrm.com/2026/03/19/political-prisoners-death-row-recent-victims-iran/