21 April 2026 :

April 20, 2026 - IRAN. Mohammad Masoum Shahi (Mohammad Masoumshahi, Mohammad (Nima) Massoum Shahi) and Hamed Validi Hanged

State media reported the executions of political prisoners Mohammad Masoum (Nima) Shahi and Hamed Validi at an unspecified location. Affiliated with the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK), they were arrested before attempting to launch an attack on a government building, which was falsely linked to Israel by the authorities.

At least 15 political prisoners have been hanged since 19 March, with eight being affiliated with the PMOI/MEK and seven protesters detained during the nationwide January protests. 

Iran Human Rights condemns the executions in the strongest terms and continues to warn of further executions of political prisoners and protesters in the coming days and weeks.

IHRNGO Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam stated: “The Islamic Republic uses the death penalty as a tool of political repression to create societal fear and save its crumbling rule. A complete halt to all executions and the release of political prisoners must be a central demand in any negotiations and agreements with the Islamic Republic.”

According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency, Mohammad Masoum Shahi and Hamed Validi were hanged at an unspecified location on 20 April 2026. As the two political prisoners were held in Karaj Penitentiary, their executions likely took place at the same location.

Hamed Validi, a 45-year-old civil engineer from Karaj, and Nima Shahi, a 38-year-old technical workerfrom Karaj, were arrested in Tehran on 12 May 2025 and reportedly subjected to torture and coercion, including the arrest of family members, to extract false confessions.

On 27 September 2025, the head of the Alborz province judiciary announced news of the two men’s convictions. Hamed and Nima were sentenced to death by Branch 3 of the Karaj Revolutionary Court on charges including “moharebeh (enmity against God), cooperation with hostile groups and the Zionist regime, assembly and collusion against national security, membership in a criminal group with the aim of disrupting national security and propaganda against the state.” The “criminal group” was cited as the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

According to the official report, the network, consisting of two men from Karaj and a married couple from Isfahan, was said to have been recruited online and on a trip to a neighbouring country, trained in secure communications, geolocation and the manufacture and launch of explosive projectiles, and to have carried out arson at military and public sites while sending videos and receiving cryptocurrency payments. In Ordibehesht (20 April-20 May 2025) they were reportedly tasked to attack a military facility in Tehran and, according to officials, two members were arrested at a launch site with ten ready-to-fire projectiles, leading to the arrest of two others and the seizure of munitions and mortar components from addresses in Karaj, Isfahan and a safehouse in Tehran. The third and fourth defendants in the case, an unidentified man and woman, were sentenced to more than 26 years’ imprisonment.

However, according to the PMOI/MEK, the two political prisoners were members of the organisation and had no connection with Israel. The Islamic Republic has increasingly linked political prisoner cases to Israel to frame domestic dissent as foreign espionage and treason, thereby guaranteeing heavier sentences and reducing the political cost of the executions.

It should be noted that, like Nima and Hamed, six other executed members of the organisation had also been arrested before carrying out any attacks. The Revolutionary Courts routinely use this tactic, punishing the mere intent or alleged conspiracy as a completed capital offence to preemptively eliminate dissidents under the guise of national security.

In the last month, six other members of the organisation and seven protesters have been executed. January 2026 protesters Saleh Mohammadi, Saeed Davodi and Mehdi Ghasemi were hanged in Qom on 19 March. Mohammad Taghavi and Shahrokh Daneshvarkar were secretly hanged on 30 March, and their co-defendants Pouya Ghobadi and Babak Alipour were secretly hanged on 31 March. January 2026 protester Amirhossein Hatami, was hanged on 2 April. Vahid Baniamerian and Abolhassan Montazer were secretly hanged on 4 April. Amirhossein Hatami’s co-defendants, Mohammad Amin Biglari and Shahin Vahedparast were hanged on 5 April, and Ali Fahim was hanged on 6 April.