‘I encourage you President Trump, please do not let him be executed’: Desperate family of condemned Iranian shopkeeper plead for US to intervene as he faces execution

The desperate relatives of an Iranian shopkeeper who was sentenced to death for taking part in an anti-government protest have called on Donald Trump to urgently intervene to save him.

Erfan Soltani, 26, believed to be the first protester in the latest Iranian uprising to be given the death sentence, is expected to be hanged today. 

His family spent the night protesting outside the Ghezel Hesar prison, where the young man from Fardis in Karaj is being held in solitary confinement.

Somayeh, one of Soltani’s cousins, told CNN: ‘We need Trump’s help by the second.

‘I beg you, please do not let Erfan be executed, please.’

Trump last night warned clerics America would take ‘very strong action’ when asked what he would do if the Iranian regime carried out its vow to start executing captured protesters, adding: ‘If they hang them you’re going to see something‘. 

But Iran ignored the US president’s threats and vowed to fast-track executions after detaining 18,000 protesters as the regime continues its brutal crackdown on anti-government riots. 

The head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, signalled Wednesday there would be fast trials and executions ahead for those detained, saying: ‘If a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly.’

Soltani is set to face execution today after he was tried, convicted and sentenced for taking part in a protest on Thursday last week.

Reacting to the news of her cousin’s imminent execution, a distraught Somayeh said: ‘I was in so much shock, I cried so much… I keep feeling as if I am in a dream.’

She described Soltani as someone who ‘always wanted people to be at least free in the most basic aspects of life’.

‘He has always fought for the freedom of Iran, and today we see him standing under the gallows,’ she said.

She denied that Soltani had ever ‘resorted to violence’ during the protests, instead insisting that ‘all the destruction’ was carried out by the regime itself. 

‘In order to execute young people, they fabricate accusations against them,’ she added. 

She called on the US president to urgently intervene to help demonstrators, as they face the lethal crackdown perpetuated by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s theocratic government. 

‘People trusted Trump’s words and came to the streets,’ she said.

Already, a bloody security force crackdown on the protests has killed at least 2,571, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported. 

That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. 

Arina Moradi, a member of the Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights who has spoken to sources close to Soltani’s family, told the Daily Mail: ‘At this stage, Hengaw has not been able to independently confirm whether Erfan Soltani was executed today. 

‘Due to the ongoing and near-total internet and telecommunications shutdown, our ability to verify developments in real time remains extremely limited.

‘We are actively trying to re-establish contact with sources connected to this case. 

‘However, so far, we have not received confirmation as to whether the family was ultimately able to see him, nor whether the sentence has been implemented.

‘A source close to the family told Hengaw late last night that family members were on their way to Ghezel Hesar Prison, but no further updates have been verified since then.’

Trump has repeatedly warned that the United States may take military action over the killing of peaceful protesters, just months after it bombed Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day war launched by Israel against the Islamic Republic in June.

Despite the warnings, Iran’s judiciary chief Mohseni-Ejei urged swift and lethal action against demonstrators in a video shared by Iranian state television online.

‘If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly,’ he said. ‘If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect. If we want to do something, we have to do that fast.’

Last Thursday was one of the largest nationwide demonstrations – marking the 12th night of protests – after rallying calls from Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s deposed shah and a figure of Iran’s opposition in exile.

Witnesses have described how streets have turned into ‘warzones’, as security forces open fire on unarmed protesters with Kalashnikov-style assault rifles.

‘It’s like a warzone, the streets are full of blood,’ an anonymous Iranian told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

‘They’re taking away bodies in trucks, everyone is frightened tonight. They’re carrying out a massacre here.’

Shahin Gobadi, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told the Daily Mail: ‘Ali Khamenei, the regime’s leader, has explicitly labelled the demonstrators as “rioters,” and the regime’s prosecutor-general has declared that rioters are “mohareb”- “enemies of God” – a charge punishable by death.

‘The head of the judiciary has also stated that “special branches have been established to swiftly review the cases of the insurgents, and judicial officials have been instructed, if necessary, to be present on site, stay informed directly, and examine the matters thoroughly”.

‘This is an order to establish kangaroo courts aimed at killing protesters.’ 

While Soltani will allegedly be the first victim to be executed since protests began on December 28 last year, the Islamic Republic has been carrying out capital punishment as a means to suppress dissent for years.

The NCRI says more than 2,200 executions were carried out in 2025 in 91 cities, signifying an unprecedented high in Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 36-year rule as Supreme Leader.

Ms Moradi told the Daily Mail that sources close to the Soltani family said his loved ones were ‘shocked’ and ‘in despair’ at the ‘unprecedented’ situation.

She said: ‘Their son was never a political activist, just part of the younger generation who was protesting against the current situation in Iran.’

She added that there was ‘no information about him for days’ before authorities eventually called his family to inform them of Soltani’s imminent execution.

Executions can be public spectacles in Iran, with the young protester likely to be subjected to torture and abuse while detained in prison, says Ms Moradi, who fears the regime will carry out other extrajudicial executions in the coming weeks.

According to the Hengaw organisation, a source close to the Soltani family said authorities informed them about the death sentence just four days after his arrest.

It said: ‘The source added that Erfan Soltani’s sister, who is a licensed lawyer, has attempted to pursue the case through legal channels, but authorities have so far prevented her from accessing the case file.

‘Since his arrest, Erfan Soltani has been deprived of his most basic rights, including access to legal counsel, the right to defence and other fundamental due-process guarantees.’

The organisation called the case a ‘clear violation of international human rights law’, citing its ‘rushed and non-transparent’ nature.

The National Union for Democracy in Iran described Soltani as a ‘young freedom-seeker’ whose ‘only crime is shouting for freedom for Iran’.

The arresting authority has not been officially identified.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, said: ‘The widespread killing of civilian protesters in recent days by the Islamic Republic is reminiscent of the regime’s crimes in the 1980s, which have been recognised as crimes against humanity.

‘We call on people and civil society in democratic countries to remind their governments of this responsibility.’

State TV showed dozens of body bags on the ground at the Tehran coroner’s office, saying the dead were victims of events caused by ‘armed terrorists’, as well as footage of loved ones gathered outside the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre in Tehran waiting to identify bodies.

According to a witness, members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) take money from grieving relatives in exchange for handing over bodies, and force families of those killed to sign documents saying they were murdered at the hands of the people, not the regime.

While the guards are a branch of the military, they are dressed in plain clothes, witnesses said.

‘They come dressed as civilians and say: “Let’s help.” But later it becomes clear they are IRGC. They encourage people to go to certain places that are actually killing zones, and then they shoot everyone there,’ a Tehran protester said, according to the Times. 

‘They are doing this so people become more afraid and stop trusting each other.’

Authorities on Sunday declared three days of national mourning ‘in honour of martyrs killed in resistance against the United States and the Zionist regime,’ according to state media. 

In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump urged Iranians to keep protesting and remember the names of those abusing them, saying help is on the way.

‘Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!… HELP IS ON ITS WAY,’ Trump said, without specifying what that help might be.

He said he had cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the ‘senseless killing’ of protesters stopped and in a later speech told Iranians to ‘save the name of the killers and the abusers … because they’ll pay a very big price’. 

Asked what he meant by ‘help is on its way’, Trump told reporters they would have to figure that out. Trump has said military action is among the options he is weighing to punish Iran over the crackdown.

‘The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain,’ said Trump upon returning to the Washington area from Detroit, adding he would know more after receiving a report on Tuesday evening about the Iran protests.

‘We’ll act accordingly,’ he said.

Meanwhile, activists said Wednesday that Starlink was offering free service in Iran.

The satellite internet service has been key in getting around an internet shutdown launched by the theocracy on January 8.

Iran began allowing people to call out internationally on Tuesday via their mobile phones, but calls from people outside the country into Iran remain blocked.

‘We can confirm that the free subscription for Starlink terminals is fully functional,’ said Mehdi Yahyanejad, a Los Angeles-based activist who has helped get the units into Iran.

‘We tested it using a newly activated Starlink terminal inside Iran.’

Starlink itself did not immediately acknowledge the decision.

Security service personnel also apparently were searching for Starlink dishes, as people in northern Tehran reported authorities raiding apartment buildings with satellite dishes. 

While satellite television dishes are illegal, many in the capital have them in homes, and officials broadly had given up on enforcing the law in recent years.

On Friday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned that the ‘Islamic Republic will not back down’, and ordered his security forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to violently crackdown on dissenters.

It comes after Rubina Aminian, a 23-year-old fashion student, was shot in the head ‘from close range’ during last Thursday’s protests.

The protests broke out in two major markets in downtown Tehran after the Iranian rial plunged to 1.42million to the US dollar, a new record low, compounding inflationary pressure and pushing up the prices of food and other daily necessities.

This was after the Iranian government had raised prices for nationally subsidised gasoline in early December, with Central Bank head Mohammad Reza Farzin resigning a day later as the protests spread to cities outside of Tehran, where police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrations.

The UN human ‌rights chief said on Tuesday that he was ‘horrified’ by mounting ​violence by Iran’s security forces ​against peaceful ​protesters.

‘This cycle of horrific violence ⁠cannot continue. The Iranian people and ​their demands for ​fairness, equality and justice must be heard,’ Volker Turk said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday that he was ‘shocked by reports of violence and excessive use of force by the Iranian authorities against protesters resulting in deaths and injuries in recent days’.

The US State Department on Tuesday urged American citizens to leave Iran now including by land through Turkey or Armenia.

Iran warned ‌regional countries it will strike US military bases in those ​countries in case ​of a US ​attack, a senior Iranian ⁠official told Reuters on Wednesday.

‘Tehran has told ‍regional ‍countries, from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Turkey, that US ⁠bases in those countries will be attacked if ⁠US targets Iran,’ the official said.

The Hengaw rights group, also based in Norway, has verified both the deaths and also the backgrounds of several protesters it said were killed by security forces.

Erfan Faraji, a resident of Rey, outside Tehran, was shot dead by Iranian government forces during the protests on January 7, it said. He had turned 18 just a week earlier.

A source close to Faraji’s family told Hengaw his body was identified among those transferred on Saturday to the Kahrizak morgue, from where images of dozens of body bags sparked international alarm.

His family collected his body on Saturday and he was buried without any public announcement.

Rebin Moradi, a 17-year-old Kurdish student, originally from Salas-e Babajani in Kermanshah province but a resident of Tehran, was a member of the capital’s youth premier football league and a youth player with Saipa Club at the time of his death.

He was seen as ‘as one of the promising young talents in Tehran’s youth football scene,’ Hengaw said.

Moradi was killed by Iranian government forces who shot him on Thursday, Hengaw said.

A source familiar with the case told Hengaw that Moradi’s family received confirmation of his death but that they had not yet been allowed to take possession of his body.

Mehdi Zatparvar, 39, from Rasht in the Caspian Sea province of Gilan was a former bodybuilding champion who became a coach and held a master’s degree in sports physiology, Hengaw said.

‘Zatparvar began weightlifting at the age of 13 and earned national and international titles in powerlifting and weightlifting between 2011 and 2014,’ it added.

He was shot and killed on Friday, Hengaw said.