Protesters holding signs against the death penalty in Iran during a sit-in in Washington, D.C., on May 16, 2026. (Credit: Amid Farahi/AFP)
Iran executed two men Wednesday in connection with anti-government protests in January, the judiciary-affiliated Mizan news agency reported, according to AFP.
Ali Hemmati and Majid Nik-Andish were convicted of “participating in the January riots that resulted in the martyrdom of four members of the Iranian security forces” in the northeastern city of Mashhad, Mizan reported.
The two men also “caused extensive damage to public property, setting fire to shops, banks, buses, and other buildings, and even burning trees,” the report said. They were “hanged early Wednesday morning after the Supreme Court upheld their sentences,” Mizan reported.
The protests began in late December over the rising cost of living before quickly developing into widespread anti-government demonstrations that peaked on Jan. 8 and 9.
The Iranian government acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths during the unrest, attributing the violence to “terrorist acts” orchestrated by the United States and Israel. Foreign-based rights groups, however, have reported a deadly crackdown that left thousands dead.
US President Donald Trump threatened military intervention in Iran before the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on the country on Feb. 28, triggering the wider war in the Middle East. Since then, arrests and executions have increased in Iran, including cases linked to the conflict and the earlier protests.
According to NGOs including Amnesty International, Iran is the world's second-highest user of the death penalty after China. Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, a record since 1989, according to Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM).
