The Iranian regime is carrying out secret extrajudicial executions and lethal injections on detainees following its brutal crackdown on anti-government unrest, human rights groups have warned.
It comes as the security forces arrested at least four senior reformist politicians on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the Islamic system, at a time of strained relations with the US.
Since protests began late December, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says it has verified 6,961 deaths, mostly demonstrators, and has another 11,630 cases under investigation.
It has also counted more than 51,000 arrests. The internet blackout has made it extremely difficult to document the full extent of the death toll, with Iranian medics suggesting the true number could exceed 30,000.
Hundreds of coerced ‘confessions’ have aired on Iranian television in recent weeks, where in which detainees are accused of having committed moharebeh – waging a war against God – and are sentenced to death.
Prisoners are dragged from their jail cells to sit in front of bright studio lights for the televised interrogations, which are designed to instill fear across the population that hundreds if not thousands of prisoners could be hanged.
According to Arina Moradi, a member of the Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights, detainees are also subjected to ‘mock’ executions in jail as a form of psychological torture and humiliation.
As well as the mock executions, Norway-based Iran Human Rights says it is currently investigating several credible reports that demonstrators have been ‘secretly executed in several prisons’ across the country since nationwide riots began.
Iranian state television broadcast of the interrogation of 18-year-old prisoner Shervin Bagherian
A billboard displaying a map of potential targets in Tel Aviv, Israel, along with a warning message reading, ‘You start, we finish!’ is seen at Palestine Square, Tehran, February 9
Shervin Bagherian, 18, appeared in one of Iran’s televised confessions wearing a bright blue prison uniform and silver handcuffs.
During the video, he was accused of provoking crowds of demonstrators against paramilitaries and of kicking the bodies of dead security officials.
The interrogator demands to know ‘how many families you have ruined, how many children you have orphaned’, causing Bagherian to slump forward on the table in desperation with his head in his arms.
He is condemned to execution and begs for his life: ‘For God’s sake, not execution! Sir, I made a mistake, I was wrong, please, for God’s sake, I wasn’t doing anything.’
By late December, as protests slowly began to take hold across Iran, the regime had already carried out more than 2,200 executions in 91 cities, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
This was the highest figure in decades, signifying an unprecedented peak in brutality in Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 36-year rule as Supreme Leader.
In the aftermath of the security forces’ brutal massacre of protestors on January 8, 9 and 10, many Iranians describe a ‘sea of blood’ separating civilians from the lethal government that rules them.
The protestors arrested in the recent crackdown have alleged abuse while in custody, including forced nudity, exposure to cold conditions, and ‘injections with substances of unknown composition’, according Iran International, citing a source close to a detainee in prison.
Samira Parvareshkhah was arrested by security forces on January 9 in Rasht and was released two days later with ‘extensive bruising’ across her body, Hyrcani Human Rights Media claimed.
Shortly after returning home, her condition deteriorated with severe nausea, and she died while being transported to Bandar Anzali Hospital. No official explanation has been provided for the cause of her sickness.
During the nationwide ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests of 2022, over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini who was arrested for wearing her hijab incorrectly, authorities dismissed similar mysterious deaths as cases of overdose or suicide.
Families gather at the Kahrizak Coroner’s Office confronting rows of body bags as they search for relatives killed during the regime’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests
Protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire in Tehran on January 9
Iranians attend an anti-government protest in Tehran on January 9
A file photo of a public execution of four Iranians in the southern city of Shiraz, 590 miles south of Tehran, September 2007
US President Donald Trump boasted that his intervention prevented more than 800 scheduled executions, after the White House warned there would be ‘grave consequences’ for Iran if killings linked to its crackdown continue.
But the population is still fearful about the prospect of executions, compounded by comments made by Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, who said there would be ‘swift action’ and harsh punishments for protestors.
The head of Iran’s Reformists Front, Azar Mansouri, was arrested at her home on Sunday, in a move that is likely to deepen tensions over Tehran’s handling of the recent street protests.
She served as an adviser to former reformist president Mohammad Khatami.
After the start of the most recent protest movement in December, initially triggered by economic stagnation, she expressed support for the demonstrators and expressed deep sorrow at their deaths,
In what appeared to a concerted roundup of the key reformist figures outside government, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, the chief of the front’s political committee, and Mohsen Aminzadeh, a former deputy foreign minister for American affairs, were also arrested.
The Reform Front’s spokesperson, Javad Emam, was the fourth figure to be arrested.
The state-affiliated Fars news agency accused those detained of ‘targeting national solidarity’, opposing the constitution, colluding with ‘the enemy’s propaganda’ and promoting ‘surrender’ while establishing ‘secret mechanisms to overthrow’ the Islamic theocracy.
The reformist camp largely backed incumbent president Massoud Pezeshkian in the 2024 presidential election.
The move came days after Iranian and US officials held talks in Oman that both sides painted as positive.
Trump said the US had ‘very good’ talks with Tehran on Friday and that discussions would continue, but noted that the consequences for Iran would be ‘very steep’ if a deal was not reached.
Protesters pictured wading through tear gas during an anti-government protest in Tehran, January 8
Footage showing an Iranian regime truck speeding into a crowd and running over protestors, allegedly killing one woman, January 8
The US had threatened military action against Iran during the peak of the protest movement that swept the nation earlier this year, which saw authorities launch a deadly crackdown to quell dissent.
There was no immediate indication that the two sides discussed the protests during Friday’s Omani-mediated talks.
Iran has branded the protests as riots fuelled by its arch-foes Israel and the US, and on Monday, supreme leader Khamenei called on the nation to show ‘resolve’ against foreign pressure.
‘National power is less about missiles and aircraft and more about the will and resolve of the people,’ Khamenei said, adding: ‘Show it again and frustrate the enemy.’
At the talks in Oman, the US and Iran had agreed to discuss Tehran’s nuclear programme, though Washington and Israel also want to put the Islamic republic’s ballistic missiles and its support for regional militant groups on the agenda.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes but Western powers and Israel believe it is seeking a nuclear weapon.
On Sunday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran could envision ‘a series of confidence-building measures concerning the nuclear programme’ in exchange for the United States lifting sanctions on the country.
But Araghchi insisted on Iran’s right to continue enriching uranium.
Meanwhile, the secretary of Iran’s top security body, Ali Larijani, said he will visit Oman on Tuesday for meetings with Omani authorities.
With the US giving no indication that the protest crackdown is still a potential issue in the negotiations, Iranian authorities appear to be tightening their grip.
On Saturday, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of harming national security and was also given a one-and-a-half year prison sentence for ‘propaganda’ against Iran’s Islamic system, her foundation said in a statement.
Mohammadi was arrested in December before nationwide protests erupted later that month.
Already incarcerated for much of the past decade as a result of her campaigning against Iran’s use of capital punishment and mandatory dress code for women, she now faces 17 more years behind bars with the addition of these new sentences.
She also faces 154 lashes carried over from previous sentencing.
Several prominent activists have also been arrested in recent days for their contribution to the statement critical of the authorities that was written in the wake of the January crackdown.
Filmmaker Mehdi Mahmoudian, co-screenwriter of the film ‘It Was Just an Accident,# winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2025, is among them.
The authorities in Iran have acknowledged that 3,117 people were killed in the protests, publishing on Sunday a list of 2,986 names, most of whom they say were members of the security forces and innocent bystanders.