Iran on Thursday executed three men accused of killing police officers during protests in January, as activists warned of a possible new surge in hangings. The war with Israel and the United States intensifies.
This is the first time Iran has carried out an execution related to the incident. nationwide demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the authorities.
Saleh Mohammadi, a young member of Iran’s national wrestling team, was one of three men executed in Iran, two sources confirmed to CBS News.
Human rights groups say the three were executed without a fair trial and confessed under torture.
Mohammadi, Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi were sentenced to death in the city of Qom, south of Tehran, after being found guilty of the capital crime of waging war against God, known as “moharebeh” under Iran’s Sharia law, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency said.
They were convicted of participating in the killing of two police officers and conducting “operations” for Israel and the United States.
There are particular concerns over the fate of Mohammadi, a teenage wrestling champion who competes internationally, who, according to Amnesty International, was “denied an adequate defense and forced to make a ‘confession’… in a speedy proceeding that bears no resemblance to a meaningful trial”.
The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said after the executions that the three “were sentenced to death after an unfair trial based on confessions extracted under torture.”
Mohammadi is said to have turned 19 only last week.
Iran’s legal affairs watchdog Daban added that they were “denied effective access to independent counsel and the right to defense” and that the use of the death penalty in this case was akin to “extrajudicial executions”.
‘Risk of mass executions’
A day earlier, the Iranian authorities hanged Kouroush Keyvani, a dual Iranian-Swedish citizen, on charges of espionage for Israel. Stockholm and the European Union strongly condemned the move.
It was the first such execution publicly announced since Israel and the United States launched an attack on Iran on February 28 that killed the supreme leader. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and trigger The war that has spread Across the Middle East.
“We are deeply concerned about the risk of mass executions of protesters and political prisoners in the shadow of war,” the Iranian human rights group said.
“These executions are carried out to spread fear in society, as the Islamic Republic knows that the main threat to its survival comes from the Iranian people who demand fundamental change,” the statement added.
Protests against the rising cost of living broke out in Iran at the end of December, which later evolved into nationwide anti-government demonstrations, reaching their peak on January 8th and 9th.
Rights groups accuse security forces of killing thousands of people in a crackdown on protests, which authorities blame on the United States and Israel.
The US-based Human Rights Activists news agency has documented more than 7,000 killings, the vast majority of them by protesters, while warning the death toll could be much higher.
Tehran admitted that more than 3,000 people died in the riots, including members of the security forces and innocent bystanders, and blamed the violence on “acts of terror.”
Iran’s hardline Justice Minister Gholamhussein Mohseni Ejei warned there would be no “lenience” for those guilty of violence during the protests.
Iranian human rights groups say hundreds of people face charges related to the protests that could carry the death penalty. President Donald Trump initially warned that the United States would attack Iran if it executed protesters, but later focused on its nuclear program.
According to human rights groups, Iran carries out the most executions in the world after China. At least 1,500 people were hanged last year, according to Iranian human rights groups.
The Islamic Republic executed 13 people on charges related to the June 2025 war with Israel and 12 people on charges related to the June 2025 war. Charges related to nationwide protests in 2022-2023according to rights groups.
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