Iran secretly executes Mojtaba Kian, detainee arrested during 40-day war

Hengaw – Sunday, May 24, 2026

Iranian authorities have secretly executed Mojtaba Kian, a political-security detainee arrested during the recent 40-day war between Iran, Israel, and the United States. His execution in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj marks the first confirmed execution of a detainee linked to the war.

Based on reports obtained by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Kian was executed at dawn on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after spending only around three months in detention. Authorities carried out the execution in secret, without informing his family in advance or allowing him a final visit.

Meanwhile, Mizan News Agency, the official media outlet of Iran’s judiciary, confirmed the execution in a published statement. The judiciary accused Kian of “espionage, collaboration with a hostile state, and transmitting information about defense industry centers to the Zionist-American enemy during wartime.”

According to the account presented by the Alborz Province judiciary and Iranian security agencies, Mojtaba Kian was accused of sending coordinates and information related to defense industry production facilities through communication networks during the 40-day war. State-affiliated media, citing what they described as his confessions, claimed he had provided targeting information to Israeli officials.

Hengaw notes that the use of forced confessions has long been a well-documented practice employed by Iran’s security apparatus to justify political and security-related executions and shape public opinion. Informed sources stated that Kian’s arrest, interrogation, and trial were conducted in a fully security-driven and opaque environment and proceeded with extraordinary speed.

Throughout his detention, Kian was denied access to a fair trial and prevented from choosing his own lawyer. Authorities carried out the execution without prior notice to his family and denied him a final meeting before his death sentence was implemented.

Hengaw Organization for Human Rights expresses grave concern over what it describes as the beginning of a new wave of executions targeting detainees arrested during the recent war. The organization considers the secret execution of Mojtaba Kian a clear example of state-sanctioned killing and political retaliation carried out under the guise of security-related charges.

Hengaw further stresses that the issuance and implementation of death sentences by Iran’s Revolutionary Courts in a militarized atmosphere, without adherence to even the minimum international legal standards, constitute a flagrant violation of the right to life and fundamental human rights principles. The organization calls on the international community to take immediate action to halt what it describes as Iran’s “machinery of terror.”