Two January protest detainees sentenced to death in Shiraz

Hengaw – Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Mojtaba Dehbandi, 23, and Kianoush Hamzehei Kazerouni, 27, two men from Shiraz who were arrested during the January 2026 protests, have been sentenced to death on charges of moharebeh (“waging war against God”).

According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the preliminary death sentences were issued more than two months ago by Branch 1 of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court. The two men are currently being held under concerning conditions at Adelabad Prison in Shiraz.

The court sentenced Dehbandi and Hamzehei Kazerouni to death on charges including moharebeh through “setting fire to public property and burning the Quran,” as well as “acting against national security by sheltering protesters.” According to Hengaw, however, the evidence underlying their arrest was limited to providing shelter and medical assistance to protesters injured during the demonstrations.

Sources familiar with the case said Dehbandi worked in his family’s curtain business, while Hamzehei Kazerouni owned a grocery store. During the protests, they reportedly took several injured demonstrators into the shop to provide them with shelter and medical care. After obtaining footage from the store’s surveillance cameras, security forces identified the two men and arrested them during raids on their homes eight days later.

During the same raid, security forces arrested four injured protesters who were still hiding inside the shop and took them to an undisclosed location. Months later, there has been no information about their fate, whereabouts, or condition, amounting to a clear case of enforced disappearance under international law.