Iran executes Mohammad Abbasi amid accelerating wave of wartime executions
Hengaw – Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Iranian authorities have executed Mohammad Abbasi, a detainee arrested during protests earlier this year, at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj amid a rapidly escalating wave of executions carried out under wartime conditions.
According to information obtained by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Abbasi, a resident of Malard in Tehran Province, was secretly executed at dawn on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj. He had been arrested alongside his daughter during protests earlier this year. Mizan News Agency, the official media outlet of Iran’s judiciary, later confirmed the execution.
Abbasi was arrested in connection with the killing of a police officer identified as Shahin Dehghani Kakavandi during protests in Malard. He was subsequently sentenced to death on charges of “waging war against God” (moharebeh) by Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Abolghasem Salavati.
Branch 39 of Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the sentence while preventing independent lawyers, including Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani, from participating in the proceedings under provisions tied to Article 48 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The case was reviewed solely in the presence of a court-appointed lawyer lacking the necessary independence.
In the same case, Fatemeh Abbasi, Mohammad Abbasi’s daughter, was sentenced to 25 years of discretionary imprisonment and is currently being held in the women’s ward of Evin Prison, a measure that reflects the systematic retaliation and increased pressure exerted by security institutions against the families of protesters.
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights warns that since the outbreak of military conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States, the Islamic Republic has sharply accelerated its use of executions. With the execution of Mohammad Abbasi, at least 32 prisoners facing political and security-related charges have been executed during this period.
