Iran’s judiciary urges courts to ‘speed up’ execution verdicts linked to war

By AFP 7 April 2026, 5:46 pm

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Glenn Torshizi, whose brothers were executed by the Iranian government, joins others in a picket line at the US State Department to highlight the executions in Karaj, Iran, of People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran members, March 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Iran’s hardline judiciary chief urges courts to speed up verdicts linked to the US-Israeli war, including capital punishment, as activists sound the alarm about surging hangings of convicts seen as political prisoners.

Since the war began on February 28, Iran has hanged seven people in connection with the January protests, six convicted of membership of the banned opposition group the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), and a dual Iranian-Swedish citizen on charges of spying for Israel.

Rights groups have warned dozens more are at risk of execution over the January protests or after being arrested on suspicion of helping the enemy during the current war.

“You need to speed up the issuing of sentences for executions and the confiscation of property,” judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei tells a televised meeting of senior judiciary officials.

Using existing laws on punishing espionage, “it is necessary to continue issuing judicial verdicts for elements and agents of the aggressor enemy with greater speed,” he adds.