Three Kurdish protest detainees sentenced to death in Tehran

Hengaw – Sunday, May 31, 2026

Iranian authorities have sentenced three Kurdish men detained in connection with the January 2026 protests to death. Ashkan Maleki and Mehrdad Mohammadinia, both from Qorveh, and Arman Marefati from Saqqez are now at imminent risk of execution.

According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Abolghasem Salavati, recently sentenced Ashkan Maleki, Mehrdad Mohammadinia, and 38-year-old Arman Marefati to death in a joint case on the charge of “moharebeh” (waging war against God).

Hengaw has learned that Marefati is currently held in Greater Tehran Penitentiary (Fashafouyeh), while Maleki and Mohammadinia are imprisoned in Qezel Hesar Prison in Karaj. The death sentences were formally communicated to them in prison in recent days.

Throughout the proceedings, the three men were denied access to legal counsel of their choosing and deprived of the fundamental guarantees of a fair trial. Informed sources told Hengaw that the verdicts were issued under pressure from security agencies and relied on forced confessions extracted under torture.

Hengaw Organization for Human Rights expresses grave concern over the imminent risk of execution facing the three men. Hengaw considers death sentences based on security-driven narratives and televised forced confessions to be a clear example of state-sanctioned killing and calls for the immediate intervention of the United Nations Human Rights Council, international human rights organizations, and the international community to prevent the implementation of these sentences.

Judiciary-affiliated media outlet Mizan had previously broadcast footage of the men's confessions and reported on their court proceedings. According to the indictment, Maleki and Mohammadinia were accused of “conducting operational activities for the Israeli regime and hostile states and groups against the country's security with the capability to cause destruction and loss of life,” as well as “moharebeh.”

Marefati initially faced a charge of “assembly and collusion.” During the proceedings, however, Judge Salavati amended the charges against him to include “participation in operational activities against national security,” “entering religious sites with the intent to cause destruction,” and “participation in setting fire to a mosque and a seminary.” These accusations ultimately formed the basis of his death sentence.

The Iranian judiciary has accused the three men of involvement in the destruction and arson of the Jafari Mosque and Imam Hadi Seminary in Tehran’s Gisha neighborhood, as well as damage to public property on January 9, 2026.