In the wake of the massive nationwide uprisings from December 2025 to January 2026, Iran’s profoundly weakened regime is quietly moving to eliminate dissidents. Operating under the shadow of war and a protracted internet blackout, the desperately vulnerable state is waging a cruel, two-front war against dissidents inside and outside of its prisons.
In its latest move to physically eliminate organized opposition, the regime’s judiciary has upheld the death sentence of political prisoner Manouchehr Fallah, signaling a terrifying escalation in state-sanctioned violence against supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
The imminent threat to Manouchehr Fallah
The primary target of this renewed judicial terror is 36-year-old Manouchehr Fallah, who was arrested in June 2023 and is currently languishing in the Mithaq Ward of Lakan Prison in Rasht. In early May, a kangaroo court in Rasht, presided over by executioner judge Ahmad Darvish-Goftar, re-confirmed Fallah’s death sentence.
The sole charge pressed against Fallah is membership in the PMOI. This ruling comes after the regime’s Supreme Court had previously referred the review of his case back to this local court, highlighting a relentless effort by the ruling establishment to execute its opponents.
Compounding the cruelty: The torture of Roozbeh Alipour
The regime’s cruelty extends far beyond the courtroom and deep into its dungeons, as evidenced by the horrific treatment of 40-year-old political prisoner Roozbeh Alipour. Violently arrested and beaten on January 26, 2026, in Tehran, Roozbeh was subjected to severe interrogation and torture in Ward 209 of Evin Prison.
After a stint in Fashafouyeh Prison, he was transferred last week to the secure Ward 35 of Unit 3 in Ghezel Hesar Prison, where he remains in limbo in solitary confinement. Roozbeh suffered severe fractures to his hands and legs under torture, along with serious head and face injuries. Prison authorities have deliberately deprived him of basic medical care and family visits, continuously beating him with pipes and sticks.
This physical and psychological torture is devastatingly compounded by the regime’s execution of his brother, proud PMOI member Babak Alipour, alongside Pouya Ghobadi on March 31, 2026. These hangings followed the executions of two other PMOI members from the exact same case, Mohammad Taghavi and Ali Akbar (Shahrokh) Daneshvarkar, on March 30, marking a bloody two-day killing spree aimed at physically eliminating the organized resistance.
In the days that followed, the regime executed four more PMOI members, Vahid Bani Amerian, Abolhassan Montazer, Hamed Validi, and Mohammad (Nima) Massoum Shahi.
Silencing the unbreakable: Fabricated cases against female prisoners
Behind prison walls, authorities have intensified a systematic crackdown on female political prisoners, weaponizing fabricated cases to break their unbreakable morale. Recently, criminal judge Sharifi-Nasab in Tehran’s so-called revolutionary court sentenced 30-year-old political prisoner Forough Taghipour to an additional year in prison.
Her fabricated crime was publishing a message for Student Day in 2025. Taghipour, who holds an accounting degree and is already serving a 15-year sentence following her August 2023 arrest, comes from a family deeply tied to the Resistance; her uncle and aunts were martyred in the 1980s, and her father and sister are based in Ashraf 3.
Furthermore, regime torturers are weaponizing family visitations against these resilient women. Taghipour and six other female political prisoners were recently deprived of family visits simply for singing anthems and chanting “No to execution” in solidarity with the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign.
Expanding the terror: Criminalizing grief and taking families hostage
Unable to break the prisoners, the regime is criminalizing grief and taking the families of executed political prisoners hostage to prevent mourning ceremonies from sparking new uprisings.
This preemptive hostage-taking was starkly evident prior to the execution of PMOI martyr Babak Alipour. Authorities arrested his 63-year-old mother, Omolbanin Dehghan, his 31-year-old sister Maryam, and his brother Roozbeh. The family was mercilessly denied a final farewell, and executioners refused to hand over Babak’s body.
Similarly, on April 18, 2026, authorities arrested Akram and Azam Daneshvarkar, sisters of PMOI martyr Akbar Daneshvarkar. The sisters were sent to Qarchak Prison on fabricated national security charges simply because they spent 20 days trying to retrieve their brother’s tortured body after his March 30 execution.
These escalating crimes against humanity—from upholding Manouchehr Fallah’s death sentence to torturing grieving families—reflect the terminal instability of a dictatorship deeply terrified of a growing organized resistance.
The Iranian Resistance urges the international community, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Council, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, to move past mere verbal condemnations. Immediate, punitive actions are required to hold the mullahs’ regime accountable. The United Nations must demand the unconditional release of all political prisoners and dispatch an urgent international fact-finding mission to Iranian prisons to meet directly with these resilient dissidents.