On July 15, 2026, the executioners of the Iranian regime hanged two individuals arrested during the nationwide uprisings of 2022 and 2026. Aref Khoshkar, a 28-year-old arrested on November 11, 2022, during protests in Tehran’s Fallah neighborhood, was executed in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj after enduring brutal torture.
Simultaneously, Mohammad Amini Dehaghani, detained during the January 2026 uprising, was hanged in Isfahan Prison. While the regime attempts to project an image of absolute control through these executions, the reality is starkly different. These state-sanctioned murders are the desperate acts of a terminal dictatorship, highlighting the urgent responsibility of the international community to hold the regime accountable and take immediate action to save the lives of remaining political prisoners.
The judiciary’s proceedings against these protesters reveal a complete disregard for due process. Khoshkar was sentenced to death on fabricated charges of killing a Basij militia member who had actively participated in the violent crackdown on demonstrators.
Meanwhile, Amini Dehaghani faced draconian charges of “waging war against God” (Moharebeh) and “spreading corruption on Earth.” The regime’s judiciary claimed he used a stolen Kalashnikov rifle and disrupted national security by allegedly setting fire to the Dehaghan governor’s office and central police station. The Iranian Resistance strongly condemns these criminal hangings, urging the United Nations to intervene immediately to save the lives of other prisoners facing the gallows.
A systematic campaign of executions and fast-tracked death sentences
These latest executions are part of a massive, systematic surge in death penalties targeting participants of recent uprisings. On June 1, 2026, the regime executed Mehrdad Mohammadinia and Ashkan Maleki, two brave protesters from the January uprisings, following a sham trial orchestrated by the notorious “hanging judge” Abolqasem Salavati.
Terrified of resurgent unrest, the regime is weaponizing its judiciary to fast-track mass death sentences. On July 5, 2026, the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentences of 12 protesters in the fabricated “Ali Khani Square” case in Isfahan, with 23 others handed heavy prison sentences of up to 10 years.
Many of the condemned are youths born in 2006 and 2007 who were systematically denied access to independent legal counsel. This campaign of state terror is widespread, increasingly targeting oppressed ethnic minorities, including Kurdish and Baluch political prisoners.
The repression of dissidents: Psychological warfare and bribes
While the judiciary hands out death sentences, the regime’s security apparatus wages psychological warfare against grieving families to falsely claim murdered protesters as regime loyalists. State security forces ruthlessly pressure bereaved relatives, as seen when the family of a 45-year-old protester killed by regime snipers was forced to bury him in an isolated, remote village.
Furthermore, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Foundation of Martyrs subjected the family to relentless harassment, offering dirty bribes such as financial quotas and monthly salaries. Their goal is to extort families into registering their murdered loved ones as “Basijis” to artificially boost the morale of the regime’s depleted forces. Yet, despite immense poverty and threats, the families courageously reject these bribes, proving the utter failure of the regime’s billion-dollar propaganda machine.
The responsibility of the international community
The regime’s ability to commit these atrocities is directly fueled by international inaction. Amnesty International recently warned that a “systemic impunity crisis” has emboldened the regime’s “trigger-ready” forces, noting at least 44 politically motivated executions carried out under the guise of “wartime conditions.” This follows the horrific January 2026 massacres, where UN Special Rapporteur Mai Sato estimated over 5,000 people were killed.
Ultimately, these gallows are not a demonstration of power but the profound weakness of a deeply demoralized regime. It is a desperate and futile attempt to silence an increasingly restive society—a nation that no longer fears standing up to confront the mullahs’ apparatus of repression.