Iran Has Executed Dozens Of January Protesters. The Crackdown Is Now Reaching Iranians Abroad.
Iran has intensified its crackdown on people linked to nationwide anti-government protests earlier this year, with dozens executed and Iranians living abroad saying authorities have threatened relatives and targeted their property and travel documents.
A Reuters investigation, based on interviews with more than 75 human rights experts, lawyers and Iranians, found that the country’s security services, judiciary and state-controlled media have continued pursuing people connected to the January demonstrations months after they were violently suppressed.
The protests began in late December 2025 amid worsening economic conditions and spread across Iran in January. Thousands of people were detained as authorities moved to suppress the demonstrations. Tens of thousands have been killed in the protests.
At least 34 protesters connected to the January unrest have been executed since March, according to Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based organization that tracks executions in Iran.
The latest executions included Alireza Sepahi Badjani and Alireza Raisi Hassan Hendouyi, who were hanged at Isfahan Central Prison on Oct. 5, according to Iran Human Rights.
Iranian authorities have accused defendants in protest-related cases of involvement in the deaths of members of the security forces and other serious crimes. Court proceedings, confessions and accounts of alleged offenses have also been publicized through Iranian state media.
Human rights groups have challenged the fairness of some of the proceedings and reported allegations of torture and coerced confessions.
United Nations human rights experts have separately raised concerns about alleged arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture and death sentences connected to the nationwide protests.
The experts said they had received information about defendants being tried without adequate fair-trial guarantees and, in some cases, on the basis of confessions allegedly obtained through torture.
The Reuters investigation also found that Iranian state media has repeatedly aired courtroom footage, confessions and other material involving people accused in protest-related cases.
Other Iranians living in Armenia, Georgia and Turkey told the outlet that relatives had been questioned, passports had been delayed or canceled and officials had pressured them over participation in demonstrations outside Iran.
In Armenia, Reuters interviewed 21 members of the Iranian community, including people who had demonstrated against Tehran.
Iranian authorities have said violence during the January protests included attacks on security personnel and destruction of property, and officials have accused some demonstrators of cooperating with foreign adversaries.
Iran Human Rights said it recorded at least 604 executions across Iran during the first nine months of 2026, including people convicted of murder, drug offenses, security-related crimes and other charges.
By the end of September, the organization had recorded 33 executions involving protesters, 31 linked to the January demonstrations and two connected to the earlier “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests. The two Oct. 5 executions in Isfahan brought the number of people executed over the January protests to at least 34. Iran Human Rights has also identified at least 100 protesters at risk of execution across 13 provinces.
