Iran secretly executes political prisoner Ehsan Afrashteh on espionage charges
Hengaw – Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Iranian authorities have secretly executed Ehsan Afrashteh, a 32-year-old political prisoner from Isfahan and a cybersecurity specialist, after sentencing him to death on charges of spying for Israel. His execution was carried out at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj without allowing him a final meeting with his family.
According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Afrashteh, a graduate in civil engineering, was secretly executed at dawn on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. He had returned to Iran from Turkey in early 2024 after receiving assurances and promises of safe conduct from Iranian security institutions. However, he was arrested immediately upon entering the country and held for five months in solitary confinement, where he was subjected to severe psychological pressure and torture before later being transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran. During the violent raid carried out by special forces on Evin Prison on November 10, 2025, he was transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj.
During his detention, Ehsan Afrashteh was forced to make televised confessions under threats that private images would be published and that terrorist operations would be falsely attributed to him. Throughout the judicial proceedings, he was denied access to a lawyer of his own choosing. Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, headed by Judge Abolghasem Salavati, sentenced him to death on charges of spying for Israel. The sentence was later upheld in full by Branch 39 of Iran’s Supreme Court.
While Iranian judicial authorities accused him of espionage and transferring “top secret” documents, Afrashteh consistently rejected the allegations and maintained that his activities were limited to warning independent websites about cyberattacks. He had previously stated: “I returned voluntarily, and based on the promises made by security institutions, I was assured that no harm would come to me.”
Afrashteh’s father suffered a fatal heart attack after learning that his son had been sentenced to death.
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights considers the secret execution of this political prisoner a clear example of state-sanctioned killing and the systematic deception of individuals by Iran’s security institutions. Hengaw further states that imposing death sentences based on torture-tainted confessions and denying defendants the right to a fair trial constitutes a blatant violation of international law and human rights conventions.
