Iran on Sunday carried out another death sentence linked to the women’s protest movement in 2022 for the first time in years, Iranian state media reported.
Mehrab Abdollahzadeh was accused of killing a security officer during unrest in the north-western city of Urmia, according to Iranian state media.
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said Abdollahzadeh had been detained since October 2022. His death sentence was upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court in December 2025, with a subsequent appeal rejected in January.
The organization said the 27-year-old had worked as a barber before his arrest.
Human rights activists accuse judiciary of torture
Iran Human Rights accused the judiciary of subjecting Abdollahzadeh to 42 days of psychological and physical torture to extract a confession. He is reported to have denied the charges in court.
Activists have long criticized such proceedings as lacking due process and being politically motivated.
On Wednesday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, condemned a recent surge in arrests and executions in Iran.
In January, a new wave of mass protests erupted amid a worsening economic crisis and persistent political grievances.
Security forces quickly moved to suppress the demonstrations, in what observers described as the most serious unrest since late 2022.
Those protests were triggered by the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who died in the custody of Iran’s morality police after being accused of violating Islamic dress codes.
Since then, the judiciary has executed more than a dozen men in connection with the protest movement.
