Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Iran. The list of crimes punishable by death includes murder; rape; child molestation; homosexuality; drug trafficking; armed robbery; kidnapping; terrorism; burglary; incest; fornication; adultery; sodomy; sexual misconduct; prostitution; plotting to overthrow the Islamic government; political dissidence; sabotage; arson; rebellion; apostasy; blasphemy; extortion; counterfeiting; smuggling; recidivist consumption of alcohol; producing or preparing food, drink, cosmetics, or sanitary items that lead to death when consumed or used; producing and publishing pornography; using pornographic materials to solicit sex; capital perjury; recidivist theft; certain military offences ; "waging war against God"; "spreading corruption on Earth"; espionage; and treason. Iran carried out at least 977 executions in 2015, at least 567 executions in 2016, and at least 507 executions in 2017. In 2018 there were at least 249 executions, at least 273 in 2019, at least 246 in 2020, at least 290 in 2021, at least 553 in 2022, at least 834 in 2023, and at least 226 so far in 2024. In 2023, Iran was responsible for 74% of all recorded executions in the world.
Arash Rahmanipour was one of the two people hanged in early 2010 by the Iranian government after being convicted of waging war against God (Moharebeh) and attempting to overthrow the Islamic regime. Some government-controlled media outlets had originally alleged that one of the reasons behind Arash Rahmanipour's execution was for participation in post-election protests, trying to associate him with Iranian Green Movement, in what has been called by some analysts "an attempt to intimidate a widespread protest movement challenging the nation's hard-line establishment", despite the fact that Rahmanipour was arrested months before the 2009 presidential elections and was in jail during the post-election protests.
Iran Human Rights (IHR) is a non-profit international non-governmental organization focused on human rights in Iran. Founded in 2005, it is a non-partisan and politically independent organisation based in Oslo, Norway. The human rights defender and neuroscientist Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam is the co-founder and international spokesperson of the organisation.
Snapp! is an Iranian vehicle for hire company, headquartered in Tehran that launched in February 2014. Users can request a ride via the iOS, Android, or web application, by indicating their location and destination. The price of the trip is set beforehand, to eliminate bargaining. Snapp! commissions drivers upon completing a background check, and showing a valid driver's license and insurance before hiring them.
Iran International is a Persian-language satellite television channel and multilingual digital news operation established in May 2017 and headquartered in London aimed at Iranians and people interested in Iranian news, culture, society and sports.
Navid Afkari Sangari was an Iranian wrestler who was sentenced to death and executed in Shiraz after having been accused and convicted of murdering a security guard during the 2018 Iranian protests; sources from outside Iran also cited convictions on other charges related to Afkari's participation in the protests, while Iranian sources denied that the case had any connection to the protests. Afkari had filed a complaint with the Iranian judiciary, and stated in an audiotape recording that was smuggled from prison, that his initial confession had been obtained under torture; the Iranian judiciary denied the torture claims, and Iranian state media broadcast a recording of the confession. There were worldwide calls for Afkari to be pardoned, including by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, and by then U.S. president Donald Trump. Afkari's brothers Vahid and Habib were sentenced to 54 and 27 years, respectively, in prison in the same case.
Sardar Pashaei is a retired national wrestler, medalist and coach of the Iranian national youth wrestling team. He won the Asian Youth Wrestling Championship in 1998 in Kazakhstan and the same year won the World Youth Wrestling Championship in Cairo and won the gold medal. He currently lives in the United States and is one of the main leaders of the Navid Afkari campaign.
Events in the year 2022 in Iran, which is dominated by protests.
Habib Afkari Sangari is a political dissident who was imprisoned in November 2018 for participating in August 2018 protests in Shiraz.
Iranian complainant mothers or Iranian Mothers for Justice are mothers whose children were killed by the agents of the Islamic Republic in various protests in Iran. These women are the mothers of people who were killed during the 2017–2018 Iranian protests, the 2019–2020 Iranian protests, the 2021-2022 Iranian protests and the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Air Defense.
Civil unrest and protests against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran associated with the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini began on 16 September 2022 and carried on into 2023, but were said to have "dwindled" or "died down" by spring of 2023. As of September 2023, the "ruling elite" of Iran was said to remain "deeply entrenched" in power. The protests were described as "unlike any the country had seen before", the "biggest challenge" to the government, and "most widespread revolt", since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Hadis Najafi was an Iranian woman who died after being struck by gunfire in Mehrshahr, Karaj, during the 2022 Iranian protests following the death of Mahsa Amini. Her death has been widely reported in international media, and like Amini before her, Najafi also became a symbol of female empowerment and the ongoing protests against the Iranian government.
On 20 September 2022, 16-year-old Iranian girl Nika Shakarami vanished in Tehran during the 2022 Iranian protests following the death of Mahsa Amini. Her family was informed of her death ten days later. She had died under suspicious circumstances suspected to involve violence by security forces. After her body was identified by her family, they planned to bury her in Khorramabad, but the body was allegedly stolen by Iranian authorities and instead buried in Hayat ol Gheyb, reportedly to exercise leverage over her family and to avoid a funeral procession which could cause further protests.
On 23 September 2022, Iranian teenager Sarina Esmailzadeh died of severe beating on the head by security forces during the Mahsa Amini protests in Karaj, Alborz province, Iran, according to human rights organizations. She was 16 years old.
This is a broad timeline of the ongoing series of protests against the government of Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on 16 September 2022. Amini had fallen into a coma after having been detained by the Guidance Patrol, allegedly for wearing an "improper" hijab—in violation of Iran's mandatory hijab law—while visiting Tehran from Saqqez.
Armita Abbasi is an Iranian protester, who was arrested on October 10, 2022, in Karaj, Iran by the Islamic Republic of Iran's forces amid Iran's nationwide protests. A week after her arrest, she experienced a serious medical condition that was reported by the hospital medical staff and by American newspaper CNN as multiple sexual assaults, this was later disputed by the Iranian government and Iranian newspapers, which reported the medical condition as intestinal issues. Abbasi was allegedly abducted by government security forces from the hospital. Her case has received attention from the international media, and has brought attention to sexual violence and repression in Iranian prisons. As of February 2023, she was released from prison.
Deaths during the Mahsa Amini protests refer to those people who were killed due to Iran's nationwide protests of 2022, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian Jina Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022, in a Tehran hospital under suspicious circumstances.
Kian Pirfalak was an Iranian nine-year-old boy who was killed in Izeh during the crackdown on the Mahsa Amini protests. He was shot by government security forces while sitting in his parents' vehicle during the attack on Izeh market. His father, Meysam Pirfalak, was critically injured in the assault and was hospitalized.
Aida Rostami was a 36-year-old Iranian physician who was allegedly kidnapped, fatally beaten, and killed by security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran for treating protesters who were injured during the Mahsa Amini protests. In light of rising demands and threats on Iranian hospitals and medics to assist security forces in the middle of the protests, Aida Rostami has emerged as an inspirational figure among medics associated with the Mahsa Amini protests.
Mohammed Ghobadlou was an Iranian man executed for his participation in the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests. He was charged with murder and moharebeh, which translates to "waging war against God", and was sentenced to death. He was accused of running over Iranian special police units in Parand city with a car, killing Farid Karampour Hassanvand and injuring five of police units.
