Stop revenge executions in Iran

Campaign Section Structure

Action Counter and Offset

785 people have taken action

Nationwide protests sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa (Zhina) Amini in September 2022 are being brutally crushed by the Iranian authorities.

On December 8, Iranian authorities executed a young protester, Mohsen Shekari, after he was convicted and sentenced to death for participating in the ongoing popular uprising across the country. Four days later, another young protester, Majidreza Rahnavard, was also sent to the gallows. The pattern continued in the new year with the execution of Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini on January 7.

The Iranian authorities are resorting to the death penalty as a weapon of political repression to instil fear among the public and end the popular uprising. Trials are fast-tracked through Iran’s judicial system without any chance of a meaningful trial and appeal process.

At least 20 people, including three children, could face execution. Thousands have been arrested and indicted, raising fears that many more people could face the death penalty in connection with the ongoing protests. In some cases, state media aired the defendants' forced “confessions” raising concerns about the use of torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the individual, or the method used by the state to carry out the execution. The death penalty is a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Sign our petition demanding that the Iranian authorities:

Immediately quash all convictions and death sentences
Refrain from seeking further death sentences
Ensure that anyone charged with a recognizable criminal offence is tried in proceedings meeting international fair trial standards without recourse to the death penalty and that principles of juvenile justice are observed for child defendants.
Release all those detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
Allow detainees access to their families and lawyers of their own choosing, protect them from torture and other ill-treatment and investigate torture allegations, and bring anyone found responsible to justice in fair trials.
Grant independent observers from embassies in Iran access to capital trials connected to protests.

Iran: Quash death sentences of young protesters subjected to gruesome torture (January 27, 2023)

Iran: Public execution of Majidreza Rahnavard exposes authorities’ revenge killings (December 12, 2022)

Iran: Horrifying execution of young protester exposes authorities’ cruelty and risk of further bloodshed (December 8, 2022)

Iran: Leaked documents reveal top-level orders to armed forces to ‘mercilessly confront’ protesters (September, 30, 2022)

Write a peronsal letter based on the updated Urgent Action in this case.

Further Background on those at risk of execution:

Amnesty International fears that scores of others face the death penalty in connection with protests, given that thousands of people have been arbitrarily arrested and indicted since protests erupted. They include Mohammad Boroughani who was sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran for “enmity against God” (moharebeh) in a grossly unfair sham trial. He was convicted for allegedly wielding a machete, setting fire to the governor’s building and injuring a state agent. On December 24, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence. On January 11, the Director of Public Relations of Iran’s Supreme Court announced on Twitter that Mohammad Boroughani’s death sentence has been suspended pending the outcome of a judicial review by the Supreme Court. Others at risk also include Arshia Takdestan, Javad Roohi, Mehdi Mohammadi Fard, Manouchehr Mehman Navaz, Saleh Mirhashemi, Saeed Yaghoubi and Majid Kazemi, who have all been convicted and sentenced to death since November.

Numerous others are either currently on trial or facing charges for crimes that carry the death penalty, including Abolfazl Mehri Hossein Hajilou, Mohsen Rezazadeh Gharagholou, Saeed Shirazi, Akbar Ghafari, Toomaj Salehi, Ebrahim Rigi (Riki), Farzad (Farzin) Tahazadeh and Farhad Tahazadeh, Karwan Shahiparvaneh, Reza Eslamdoost, Hajar Hamidi and Shahram Marouf-Mola.

Amnesty International is investigating reports of other individuals sentenced to death and/or at risk of the death penalty in relation to the protests.