Iran Executes Man Convicted Over Protest-Era Charges as Executions Rise
Iran's judiciary said on Saturday that it had executed a man convicted on multiple charges, including firing a military-grade weapon at police officers during the anti-government protests that swept the country earlier this year.
The man, identified as Siavash Jamshidi, was accused of targeting security personnel during demonstrations that peaked in January. Iran's judiciary said he was sentenced to death on charges of "moharebeh through brandishing and firing a firearm, as well as conspiracy and collusion against national security". Moharebeh is a legal term meaning "waging war against God".
The judiciary's Mizan Online website said Jamshidi was also found guilty of offences not related to the protests, including fraud, making threats, theft, and the possession and carrying of an illegal military-grade weapon. Further charges listed were complicity in kidnapping, brandishing a weapon to intimidate, and intentional infliction of bodily harm.
Mizan described him as "active" during the demonstrations, which were sparked in December last year by grievances over living costs and peaked on January 8 and 9 with large rallies.
The scale and nature of the unrest remains disputed. Iranian authorities reported more than 3,000 deaths and attributed the violence to "terrorist acts" orchestrated by the United States and Israel. Foreign-based non-governmental organisations, however, maintain that Iranian security forces fired on protesters.
The protests drew international attention. United States President Donald Trump threatened at the time to intervene militarily in Iran. Weeks later, in late February, the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on the Islamic republic, triggering the Middle East war. Since then, arrests and executions linked to both the war and the protests have multiplied.
Rights monitors have documented a broader surge in the use of capital punishment. Iran executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, the largest number in any year since 1989, according to the non-governmental organisations Iran Human Rights and Together Against the Death Penalty. Amnesty International says Iran carries out more executions than any country except China.
Under Iranian law, a conviction for moharebeh can carry the death penalty. Human rights organisations have repeatedly argued that trials on such charges lack procedural safeguards, including access to the evidence and to a lawyer of the defendant's choosing. Iranian officials have rejected such criticism, saying the courts act within national law and that the unrest was instigated from abroad.
Iran is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which permits the death penalty only for the "most serious crimes" and requires fair trial guarantees, including the right to appeal. International bodies, including United Nations human rights experts, have previously questioned whether protest-related convictions meet those standards.
Saturday's announcement did not provide details on whether Jamshidi's family or lawyers had sought a review of the sentence, or where the execution took place. The authorities have not commented beyond the judiciary's statements.
The development comes amid sustained international scrutiny of Iran's judicial system, with rights groups calling for independent monitoring of protest-related cases and greater transparency in how death sentences are carried out.
