Iran Executes Two Protesters in Public Amid Crowd Outcry and Tear Gas Dispersion

Iran publicly executed two individuals on Tuesday for their alleged roles in the January nationwide anti-government protests, as horrified onlookers chanted “Dishonorable, dishonorable!” before security forces deployed tear gas to disperse the crowd, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled Iranian opposition group.

Abolfazl Sepahi Badjani and Amirhossein Safari Hosseinabadi were hanged Tuesday in Isfahan’s Shahid Alikhani Square—where authorities alleged they committed offenses directly connected to the Jan. 8 protests, as reported by the NCRI and Iranian state media.

The NCRI reported that spectators condemned the executions before security forces deployed tear gas to clear the area. The opposition group also confirmed that security personnel had been deployed on surrounding rooftops and streets.

Iranian state media confirmed the public executions, Reuters said, with Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency stating they took place in Alikhani Square “in the presence of a group of people.”

Iran publicly hanged Abolfazl Sepahi-Badjani Tuesday over his alleged roles in January’s nationwide anti-government protests (Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA))

“Fearing public outrage over this brutal crime, the regime’s suppressive forces had deployed agents in the surrounding streets and on rooftops,” NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi said in a statement shared on X.

The executions mark the latest escalation in Iran’s crackdown on protesters arrested during the nationwide demonstrations that began in late December and intensified in January.

Human rights organizations have accused Iranian authorities of denying defendants due process, relying on coerced confessions, and carrying out executions after fundamentally unfair trials.

Iran’s judiciary accused Badjani and Hosseinabadi of participating in the Jan. 8 killing of four members of the State Security Force during demonstrations held in Shahid Alikhani Square.

Amirhossein Safari Hosseinabadi was hanged Tuesday in Isfahan’s Shahid Alikhani Square—the same location where he had joined anti-government demonstrations months earlier. (Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA))

According to the judiciary’s Mizan news agency, Badjani and Hosseinabadi were convicted of moharebeh, or “enmity against God,” efsad-fil-arz, or “corruption on Earth,” alongside charges of destroying and arsoning public property and causing the deaths of four officers. Authorities also accused them of possessing firearms and Molotov cocktails.

The NCRI claimed Tuesday that the defendants were denied the right to choose their own lawyers, and even their court-appointed attorneys were denied access to the case files.

Iran publicly hanged Abolfazl Sepahi-Badjani on Tuesday over his alleged role in the January nationwide anti-government protests.

The judiciary, however, stated that the men had legal representation, appealed their convictions, and were convicted using police reports, cellphone evidence, witness testimony, confessions, and a crime scene reconstruction.

The pair were among 12 protesters sentenced to death in what has become known as the Alikhani Square case.

Two other defendants, Erfan Esfandiari and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi, were executed on July 19, bringing the total number of executions in the case to four.

The U.N. experts warned this week that the remaining defendants face an imminent risk of execution.

Protesters march in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025.

“The young men, aged between their late teens and early 20s, were reportedly arbitrarily deprived of their liberty, in some cases being subjected to enforced disappearance, mistreated, and accused of involvement in the killing of four security force members, as well as arson and vandalism during the Jan. 8, 2026, protests in Shahid Alikhani Square in Isfahan,” U.N. experts said in a statement.

The statement also indicated that all defendants were sentenced to death during a single closed-door hearing without clarity about each individual’s alleged responsibility, calling the proceedings a violation of international fair trial standards.

Human Rights Watch reported this week that at least 50 people have been executed over the past four months on what it described as vague national security charges.

“By resorting once again to the medieval practice of public hangings, the Islamic Republic is trying to instill fear throughout society and deter future protests,” Iran Human Rights Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said in a post shared on X.

“Public executions are a cruel form of state terror that the international community must not tolerate,” he added.

The protests across Iran began in late December amid a deepening economic crisis before expanding into one of the largest anti-government movements in the Islamic Republic’s history.

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