Iranian man executed for his participation in the January protests
The Iranian judiciary has executed Shahram Sadeghi, who was convicted of injuring seven police officers with his car during the anti-government protests in January.
A man was executed on Sunday in Iran after being sentenced to death for running over several police officers with his car during the widespread anti-government protests in January, the Iranian judiciary announced. According to the Mizan agency, the judiciary's official news outlet, Shahram Sadeghi had struck several police officers on January 8 in Karaj, west of Tehran, injuring seven of them.
Authorities claim that he carried out this action “in support of the Zionist regime and the United States.”
This execution comes amid a sharp increase in the use of the death penalty in Iran, particularly since the outbreak of war on February 28, triggered by an American-Israeli offensive against the country. A significant proportion of recent convictions are linked to anti-government protests.
The protest movement had begun in late December over the high cost of living before turning into a large-scale political mobilization, culminating on January 8 and 9. The Iranian authorities acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths, while attributing the violence to "terrorist acts" orchestrated by the United States and Israel.
In 2025, the Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people, according to Iran Human Rights and Together Against the Death Penalty, the highest level since 1989.
According to several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Iran remains one of the countries that resorts to the death penalty the most in the world, behind China.