Iran executes 13 protest detainees since February war began

2 min readUpdated May 13, 2026

Iran has executed at least 13 people arrested in connection with anti-government protests since a U.S.-Israeli attack on Feb. 28 triggered a wider conflict, according to Norway-based Iran Human Rights. Human rights organizations say the Islamic Republic has used the war as cover to intensify a crackdown that was already underway against domestic dissent.

Among the executed was Mohammad Amin Biglari, 19, whose jobs had included work at a hair salon and at the internet department of a chain store. According to NBC News, he had been walking home from work when Basij paramilitary members forced him and several others into their base; he was arrested in a neighborhood where demonstrations and fires had broken out. Mizan, the Iranian judiciary's official news outlet, announced on April 5 that he had been put to death; charges against him included storming a military installation and arson. Lawyer Hassan Aghakhani told an Iranian news outlet in February that he had been barred from both examining the case file and mounting any defense on Biglari's behalf, according to NBC News.

According to ABC News, Amirhossein Hatami was 18 years old when he was put to death on April 2; authorities alleged he had set fire to government property during the January unrest. Amnesty International declared his trial to have been "grossly unfair."

Iran's judiciary announced the hangings of three additional men — Mehdi Rassouli, Mohammad Reza Miri, and Ebrahim Dolatabadi — all convicted in connection with the Mashhad protests, according to CBS News. The charges against them included killing a security officer and inciting others to violence.

Since the war's outbreak, the United Nations has documented at least 4,000 arrests on national security grounds by Iranian authorities, according to NBC News. A U.N. report described a pattern of abuse in which those detained were in numerous instances made to disappear, subjected to torture and other degrading treatment, and in some cases forced to give confessions that were broadcast on television, or subjected to mock executions.

"The Iranian authorities have used the context of armed conflict as a pretext to further intensify repression," Raha Bahreini, Iran researcher for Amnesty International, told NBC News.

A joint report published April 13 by Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty tallied at least 1,639 executions carried out in Iran throughout 2025 — a figure 68% above the previous year's count and the largest recorded since 1989. Separately, Iran Human Rights Monitor counted 656 executions in the year's opening quarter, while noting the true number is almost certainly higher, according to CBS News.

According to ABC News, Mizan — the judiciary's news platform — disclosed last week that the state had seized holdings from 40 individuals it designated as national traitors. An April 11 judiciary statement also announced the confiscation of Iranian assets belonging to more than 400 journalists and artists living outside the country, who were accused of aiding what the government calls hostile foreign powers.

Iran has executed at least 13 protest detainees since war began in February

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