Martial arts champion and protest detainee Benyamin Naqdi sentenced to death in Shiraz

Hengaw – Saturday, May 30, 2026

Benyamin Naqdi, a martial arts champion from Shiraz and one of those arrested during the January 2026 protests in Iran, has been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Shiraz. Hengaw had previously reported that the athlete was at risk of receiving a death sentence.

According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Benyamin Naqdi, a 26-year-old protest detainee, was recently sentenced to death by a branch of the Revolutionary Court of Shiraz on charges of “corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel-arz). 

According to Mostafa Nili, Naqdi’s defense attorney, the judges of the Revolutionary Court classified all charges brought against his client as constituting “corruption on earth” and issued the death sentence on that basis. Nili stated that he will appeal the ruling before Iran’s Supreme Court within the legally prescribed period.

Naqdi was arrested on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, during protests in Shiraz. According to reports, he was subjected to pressure and torture during interrogation in an effort to extract forced confessions. Shortly after his arrest, state-affiliated media outlets published a video ofhis coerced confession.

The initial allegation against him was limited to “setting off a fire extinguisher toward police forces.” However, during the judicial process, security agencies escalated the accusations, first reclassifying the case as “attempted murder” and later as “Waging against God” (moharebeh). The final indictment included charges such as “Waging war against God,” “membership in groups disrupting national security,” “assembly and collusion against national security,” and “propaganda against the state.”

According to his lawyer, the death sentence was ultimately issued under the charge of “corruption on earth,” despite the fact that prosecutors had already dropped accusations related to “causing physical injury to security personnel” and “carrying a cold weapon” in the same case. He argued that this demonstrates that no individual was physically harmed during the incident attributed to his client.

Before his arrest, Benyamin Naqdi was an accomplished athlete in kickboxing and Muay Thai and had won several championship titles in both disciplines.