Iran hangs two men for participating in January anti-regime demonstrations

Ali Hemmati and Majid Nik-Andish were convicted of activity that 'resulted in the martyrdom of four security personnel'

By AFP and ToI Staff Today, 10:17 am
A display of people killed in Iran is seen outside the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 22, 2026. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP)

Iran’s judiciary announced that two men were hanged on Wednesday over charges relating to anti-government protests that peaked in January, having begun a month earlier over economic grievances.

The two, Ali Hemmati and Majid Nik-Andish, were found guilty of involvement “in the riots of January” that “resulted in the martyrdom of four security personnel” in the northeastern city of Mashhad, said the judiciary’s Mizan Online website.

It added that they also “inflicted extensive damage on public property by setting fire to shops, banks, buses, etc, and even torching trees.”

They “were executed by hanging early Wednesday, following the Supreme Court’s confirmation of their sentences.”

In late December, a protest movement initially sparked by the high cost of living rapidly evolved into widespread anti-government demonstrations that peaked on January 8 and 9.

Iranian authorities reported more than 3,000 deaths, attributing the violence to “terrorist acts” orchestrated by the United States and Israel.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), however, has recorded more than 7,000 killings, the vast majority of them protesters, while warning the toll could be far higher. US President Donald Trump has claimed the number is more than 35,000, echoing figures from outlets like the regime-critical Iran International, based in London.

Trump threatened, amid the protests, to intervene militarily in Iran, before the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on the Islamic Republic on February 28, triggering a war.

Israel launched the campaign, together with the US, to degrade or destroy Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and “create the conditions” for the Iranian people to topple the regime, the military and other Israeli leaders have said.

Since then, arrests and executions have multiplied in the country, linked both to the conflict and to the protests that took place earlier in the year.

In 2025, Iran executed at least 1,639 people, the largest number for any year since 1989, according to the NGOs Iran Human Rights and Together Against the Death Penalty.

According to Amnesty International, Iran is responsible for the second most executions of any country, after China.

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