Iran Executes Three Men Over January Protests in Karaj After Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentences
Iran has executed three men convicted over the armed unrest that swept the country during the anti-government protests of January 2026. The executions, carried out on Sunday, 8 November, are the latest in a series of protest-related death sentences that human rights groups say have been handed down after unfair trials — and they come as Iran’s use of the death penalty continues at one of the highest rates in the world.
The three men — Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh — were hanged in Karaj, a city west of the capital, Tehran, after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld their death sentences, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported. Iranian state media said the men had been convicted of carrying out operations on behalf of foreign powers and taking part in armed unrest during the January protests.
The case is a reminder of how the Iranian authorities have dealt with the aftermath of the January uprising: with arrests, long prison terms and, for dozens of people, the death penalty. Rights groups say at least 34 people arrested in connection with the protests had already been executed before Sunday, and at least 20 more are at imminent risk after the Supreme Court confirmed their sentences.
What happened on Sunday
According to the judiciary, the death sentences against Divband, Kazemi and Zanganeh “were carried out this morning after being upheld by the Supreme Court,” Mizan Online reported on 8 November.
The three men were found guilty of participating in operational activities on behalf of foreign powers and hostile groups during the protests, Mizan said. The judiciary accused them of throwing Molotov cocktails and grenades, using bladed weapons and firearms, and setting fire to public facilities in Karaj.
The charges centred on events in Karaj on 8 and 9 January, the two days when the protest movement reached its peak. Prosecutors said the men attacked public and government buildings and damaged an electricity substation in the city, causing power cuts in some areas. State-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported that investigators claimed to have recovered two hunting rifles, ammunition, and evidence that the group had made 20 Molotov cocktails and 15 homemade explosive devices. The authorities also said the men had assaulted two people they believed were security personnel.
The judiciary said the convictions were supported by confessions, surveillance footage and intelligence reports. That evidence has not been independently examined, and human rights groups have repeatedly said that confessions in Iranian protest cases are often obtained under torture — a claim the authorities deny.
The three men were not the only defendants in the case. Other people tried alongside them received prison sentences of between five and ten years. The court also ordered the three men’s assets to be confiscated.
One small detail shows how quickly the case moved through the courts. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on Friday, 6 November — just two days before the executions — that Divband and Kazemi had been sentenced to death by Branch 2 of the Karaj Revolutionary Court. By Sunday morning, the Supreme Court had confirmed the sentences and the men were dead.
Who were the three men?
Hassan Divband — whose name is also spelled Dioband in some reports — was the first of the three to be arrested. The judiciary said he was detained on 11 January, after investigators identified him as a suspect in attacks on public property and incitement to violence during the protests. Ten other people accused of taking part in the unrest under his supervision were arrested after him.
Less is publicly known about Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh. The judiciary’s statements named them as co-defendants in the same Karaj case, accused of the same acts: using firearms, grenades and Molotov cocktails, setting fire to public facilities and damaging the electricity substation.
The spelling of Divband’s name varies between news outlets — The Hindu’s report, based on the Associated Press, spells it “Dioband”, while Arab News and other outlets use “Divband”. Such differences are common when Persian names are written in English.
What is clear is that all three were tried by a Revolutionary Court, the branch of Iran’s judiciary that handles cases involving national security. These courts are known for holding short trials, often behind closed doors, and for handing down death sentences in protest-related cases. Amnesty International has documented what it calls severe violations of the right to a fair trial in these cases, including the denial of access to a lawyer, the use of forced confessions, and trials before judges who are not independent.
The January protests: how they began
To understand why these executions matter, it helps to know what happened in Iran in January 2026.
The protests began on 28 December 2025, when shopkeepers and bazaar merchants in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar closed their businesses and gathered to protest against the rising cost of living and the collapse of Iran’s currency. Within days, the demonstrations spread far beyond the bazaar. They reached at least 203 cities across all 31 of Iran’s provinces, and they changed from an economic protest into a nationwide movement calling for the end of clerical rule.
The protests peaked on 8 and 9 January. Those two days saw the worst violence of the uprising, as security forces moved to crush the demonstrations. The government then reasserted control, and by 19 January the protests had largely been brought to an end — but at an enormous human cost.
How many people died is still disputed, and the true number may never be known, because no independent investigation has been allowed inside Iran. The Iranian government published a figure of 3,117 dead, including about 214 members of the security forces. HRANA, a US-based human rights group that verifies deaths by name, published a list of 7,007 confirmed deaths in February 2026, including 6,488 protesters and 236 children — and later raised its verified total to at least 7,068. Investigative reporting by Time, citing hospital records, suggested the toll could be far higher.
What is not in dispute is the scale of the crackdown that followed. HRANA documented at least 53,987 arrests and detentions. Thousands of people were charged, and the courts began handing down death sentences within months.
Part of a wider pattern of executions
Sunday’s executions fit a pattern that human rights organisations have been warning about for months.
In an Urgent Action document dated 16 October 2026, Amnesty International said Iranian authorities had “arbitrarily executed at least 34 people in connection with the January 2026 uprising after torture-tainted unfair trials”, with at least two of those executions carried out in public. Amnesty also said the Supreme Court had upheld the death sentences of at least 20 other protesters since April 2026, putting them at imminent risk of execution — including at least two people who were children at the time of the alleged offences. Because the authorities have confirmed arresting thousands of people in connection with the protests, Amnesty believes the true number of people at risk is “significantly higher”.
The three Karaj cases are not the only ones. Amnesty documented seven other men convicted in a case in the city of Isfahan, known as the “Meydan Alikhani” case, who were executed between July and October 2026. Two of them, Alireza Raisi and Alireza Sepahi, were executed in Isfahan on 5 October. Two others, Abolfazl Sepahi and Amirhossein Safari Hosseinabadi, were publicly executed in Alikhani Square on 28 July.
The wider picture is stark. Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based monitoring group, recorded at least 617 executions in Iran between 1 January and 10 October 2026 — more than two people every day. That is lower than the 1,181 recorded in the same period of 2025, but the 2025 figure was the highest annual number in more than three decades.
The longer trend is even more striking. Amnesty International reported that Iran executed 2,159 people in 2025, the highest annual total in the country since 1981 and the highest single-country total anywhere in the world that year. In 2024, the United Nations recorded at least 975 executions in Iran. Iran is the world’s second-most prolific user of capital punishment after China, whose figures are a state secret.
Why executions have increased
Rights groups link the rise in executions to two things: the January protests, and the war that followed.
In late February 2026, strikes on Iran started a short war in the Middle East. Amnesty International says that after those attacks, Iranian authorities “further intensified domestic repression under the pretext of ‘wartime conditions'”, executing at least 67 people, including protesters and dissidents, on politically motivated charges. Arab News, reporting on Sunday’s executions, noted that the number of executions in Iran “has risen since the start of the Middle East war”.
The United Nations has also raised the alarm. In August 2026, the UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, described as “deeply troubling” the execution of at least 56 people on national security charges since the war began, and said the practice “has no place in our world”.
The Iranian authorities present the executions differently. They say the people executed were not peaceful protesters but armed rioters who attacked public property, killed security personnel and worked for foreign enemies. The government also blames the deaths during the January protests on what it calls “terrorist acts” organised from abroad.
Human rights groups reject that framing. They say the trials are unfair, the confessions are forced, and the death penalty is being used to frighten people away from protesting again. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, without exception, and has called on Iran to stop the protest-related executions immediately.
What this means for the other prisoners
The most urgent question now is what happens to the other protesters who are still on death row.
Amnesty has named at least 20 people whose death sentences have been upheld by the Supreme Court and who face imminent execution. Monitoring groups believe the true figures are higher, because many cases are never reported: families are often afraid to speak out, and the authorities announce only a small share of executions. Iran Human Rights found that fewer than 15 per cent of the executions it recorded in 2026 were announced by official sources.
For the families of those still in prison, Sunday’s executions are a warning of how fast a death sentence can be carried out. Divband and Kazemi were reported to have been sentenced on 6 November. They were executed on 8 November — two days later.
International pressure has had limited effect so far. The UN, Amnesty International and other groups have repeatedly called on Iran to halt the executions, but the Iranian judiciary has continued to carry them out, and the Supreme Court has continued to confirm the sentences.
Why this story matters
This is not only a story about three men in Karaj. It is a story about what happens after a protest movement is crushed — and about how a government uses the courts to punish dissent long after the streets have gone quiet.
The January 2026 protests were the largest uprising against the Iranian government since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Ten months later, the executions continue, the death toll is still disputed, and thousands of families still do not know the fate of relatives who were arrested.
Frequently asked questions
Who was executed in Iran on 8 November 2026?
Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh. They were executed in Karaj after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld their death sentences. The judiciary said they were convicted of carrying out operations for foreign powers and taking part in armed unrest during the January 2026 protests.
What were they accused of doing?
According to the judiciary, they used firearms, grenades and Molotov cocktails, set fire to public facilities and damaged an electricity substation in Karaj during the protests of 8 and 9 January, causing power cuts. The authorities also said they assaulted two people they believed were security personnel.
How many people have been executed over the January protests?
Amnesty International said in October 2026 that at least 34 people arrested in connection with the protests had been executed after unfair trials, and at least 20 more were at imminent risk after the Supreme Court upheld their sentences. Monitoring groups believe the true numbers are higher. Sunday’s three executions add to that total.
How many people died in the January 2026 protests?
There is no agreed figure. The Iranian government says 3,117 people died. HRANA, a human rights group, has verified by name at least 7,068 deaths, including 236 children. Investigative reporting based on hospital records suggests the toll could be much higher. No independent investigation has been permitted inside Iran.
How many executions does Iran carry out each year?
Iran is one of the world’s biggest users of the death penalty. Amnesty International reported 2,159 executions in Iran in 2025, the highest annual total since 1981. Iran Human Rights recorded at least 617 executions between January and 10 October 2026.
What do human rights groups say about the trials?
Amnesty International says the protest-related trials violate the right to a fair trial, including the right to a lawyer, the right not to incriminate oneself, and the presumption of innocence. It says confessions are often obtained through torture, and it opposes the death penalty in all cases.
Conclusion
The execution of Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh on Sunday was, in the Iranian judiciary’s words, the lawful punishment of three men who took part in armed attacks during the January protests. In the words of the human rights groups that have followed the case, it was the latest in a series of unfair trials ending in death.
Both sides agree on the basic facts: the three men were arrested during the January uprising, tried by a Revolutionary Court, sentenced to death, and executed after the Supreme Court confirmed the sentences. What they disagree on is whether that process was justice or repression.
Sources
- The Hindu, “Iran executes three men over armed unrest during January protests”, 8 November 2026: https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/iran-executes-three-men-over-armed-unrest-during-january-protests/article71680580.ece
- Arab News, “Iran executes three men linked to anti-government protests”, 8 November 2026: https://www.arabnews.pk/middle-east/iran-executes-three-men-linked-to-anti-government-protests-3006432
- Amnesty International, Urgent Action: “Risk of imminent protest-related executions after unfair trials”, 16 October 2026: https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/MDE1315732026ENGLISH.pdf
- Iran Human Rights, “World Day Against the Death Penalty: At Least 617 Executed in Iran”, October 2026: https://iranhr.net/en/articles/9097/
- The New Voice of Ukraine, “Record number of people executed in Iran in 2025”, 18 May 2026: https://english.nv.ua/nation/record-number-of-people-executed-in-iran-in-2025-50609003.html
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
