- Iran has executed at least 45 people on political charges in 2026, with the vast majority carried out in the past three months as authorities fast-track cases through revolutionary courts to suppress dissent while the regime negotiates sanctions relief with Washington.
- The crackdown follows the brutal suppression of January street protests that killed thousands of demonstrators; those arrested then — predominantly young men from Kurdish and other ethnic minority communities — are now being executed on loosely defined charges including espionage, “enmity against God,” and “corruption on Earth.”
- Nasser Bakerzadeh, 26, was hanged after being convicted of working as an Israeli spy based on evidence his lawyer called non-credible; his cellmate Mehrab Abdollahzadeh, whose conviction relied on a coerced confession, was executed the following day.
- Human rights groups warn that thousands more protest detainees remain imprisoned, and that the regime — facing a legitimacy crisis and a collapsing economy — has run out of tools beyond fear: authorities are also confiscating family properties and demanding prohibitive bail to punish protesters’ relatives.
What Happened?
Even as Iran’s regime sits down with US negotiators in Switzerland to pursue sanctions relief under the new MOU, it is accelerating political executions at home. At least 45 people have been put to death on political charges in 2026, according to human-rights groups and Iranian state media — most of them in the past three months. The judiciary announced in April that cases involving alleged collaboration with “aggressor regimes” would be handled under expedited procedures. The result: protesters arrested during the January uprising and even those jailed during the 2022 women’s rights protests are being rushed through revolutionary courts and hanged. Nasser Bakerzadeh, 26, was executed in Urmia prison after being accused of working with Israeli intelligence — a charge he denied and his lawyer said lacked credible evidence. His cellmate Mehrab Abdollahzadeh, a barber whose conviction rested on what he said was a coerced confession, was executed the next day.
Why It Matters?
The timing is striking: Tehran is simultaneously negotiating international legitimacy and sanctions relief while intensifying domestic repression. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam of Iran Human Rights put it plainly: “They do not have legitimacy among people. The economy is in a terrible state. The only way they can hold on to power is by instigating fear.” The regime survived the US-Israeli bombing campaign that began February 28, but the underlying political pressures — a restless, impoverished population radicalized by years of economic collapse — have not been resolved by the ceasefire. The executions are intended to send a pre-emptive message before any MOU-driven economic improvement filters through to ordinary Iranians and potentially emboldens further unrest. Human rights groups note that none of the condemned were allowed independent counsel, and that fair trial standards were systematically violated.
What’s Next?
The 60-day US-Iran negotiating window will test whether Washington raises the executions in talks or focuses narrowly on nuclear issues and Hormuz. Human rights organizations are pushing for the Biden playbook — conditioning sanctions relief on human rights improvements — though the Trump administration has shown little interest in that linkage. Thousands of January protest detainees remain in Iranian prisons, and the execution pace suggests many more death sentences are forthcoming. Meanwhile, the MOU’s promise of sanctions relief and oil export revenues may ultimately give the regime more resources to sustain domestic repression, rather than moderating its behavior.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
