26 April 2026 :

April 26, 2026 - IRAN. Amer Ramesh executed in Zahedan on April 26

Baloch political prisoner

Iranian authorities executed Baloch political prisoner Amer Ramesh in Zahedan Central Prison after 19 months in custody. The execution took place while security institutions were using him as a hostage to pressure his politically active brother living abroad.

According to information obtained by Hengaw, the execution was carried out early Sunday, April 26, 2026. Ramesh was about 18 years old at the time of his arrest in October 2024.

Iranian judiciary-affiliated media said he had been convicted on charges of “rebellion (baghi),” membership in Jaish al-Adl and links to the network of Abdolghaffar Naqshbandi.

Ramesh was arrested on Oct. 3, 2024, during a large-scale raid by Iranian government forces on an herbal medicine shop in the village of Belingi near Chabahar. The operation involved heavy weapons, including semi-heavy weapons, including RPGs and mortars.

Authorities initially informed his family that he had been killed, but it was later determined that he had been wounded and taken into custody.

During the same raid, two young men, Shahab Jadgan and Zaker Jadgal, were killed, while two others, Hamed Jadgal and Shoaib Dortaj, were arrested.

State-affiliated media had previously released a video of Amer’s forced confessions, in which clear signs of beatings and severe bruising were visible on his face.

All charges against him were based on statements obtained under torture and he was denied access to an independent lawyer and a fair trial throughout the proceedings.

Sources told Hengaw that Iranian security agencies conditioned Ramesh’s release on the family’s cooperation in targeting opposition figures or the surrender of his brother, who was affiliated with Jaish al-Adl. 

According to the sources, family members were warned in the final hours before the execution that unless his brother surrendered, Ramesh would be executed. This clearly shows that the execution was not a judicial sentence, but rather a state killing carried out as an act of hostage-taking.

Hengaw while strongly condemning the execution of Amer Ramesh, described the act as a clear example of a crime against humanity and the instrumental use of the death penalty to suppress opponents beyond Iran’s borders.

Hengaw calls on the international community to respond immediately to the alarming practice of taking family members of political activists hostage by the Islamic Republic.