Author: Keyvan Rafiee

Vijesti – Secret network smuggles Starlink technology into Iran to beat internet blockade

Sahand tells the BBC World Service that he is sending satellite internet terminals to Iran to help show “the real picture”.

“Even if one more person manages to access the internet, I think it was successful and worth it,” says Sahand.

The Iranian is visibly nervous, speaking to the BBC from outside Iran, as he carefully explains how he is part of a secret network of smugglers of satellite internet technology – which is illegal in Iran – into this country.

Sahand, whose name we have changed, fears for family members and other contacts inside the country.

“If the Iranian regime were to identify me, they could make those I am in contact with in Iran pay a heavy price,” he says.

Iran has been in digital darkness for more than two months as the government maintains one of the longest national internet shutdowns ever recorded in the world.

The current blockade began after America and Israel launched airstrikes on the country on February 28th.

Before that, internet access was partially restored just a month after a previous digital blockade in January, imposed during the regime’s deadly crackdown on national protests.

More than 6.500 protesters were killed and 53.000 arrested, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

Officials say the government imposed an internet blockade during the war for security reasons, suggesting the aim was to prevent surveillance, espionage and cyberattacks.

The Starlink devices that Sahand is sending to Iran are one of the most reliable ways to bypass the blockade.

The flat white terminals, paired with routers, provide internet access by connecting to a network of satellites owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, allowing users to completely bypass Iran’s tightly controlled domestic internet.

According to Sahand, several people can connect to each terminal simultaneously.

He says he and others in this network buy them and “smuggle them across the border” in a “very complex operation,” although he declined to provide details.

Sahand says he has sent dozens of them to Iran since January and that “we are actively looking for other ways to smuggle even more of them.”

The human rights organization Witness estimated in January that there were at least 50,000 Starlink terminals in Iran.

Activists say that number has likely increased in the meantime.

The BBC contacted SpaceX for more details about the use of Starlink in the country, but did not receive any response.

Last year, the Iranian government passed a law that makes the use, purchase, or sale of Starlink devices punishable by up to two years in prison.

The prison sentence for distributing or importing more than 10 devices can be up to 10 years.

State media reports several cases of arrests for the sale and purchase of Starlink terminals, including four people – two foreign nationals – arrested last month for “importing satellite internet equipment.”

They also report that some of the arrests include charges of possessing illegal weapons and sending information to the enemy.

However, the market for terminals in Iran still lives on, including through a public Persian-language channel on Telegram called NasNet.

A volunteer connected to the channel outside Iran told the BBC that approximately 5.000 Starlink terminals have been sold through it in the last two and a half years.

Iran has a long history of controlling information, both pushing its own anti-American and anti-Israel narratives through state media and limiting reporting on the repressive measures the regime uses against critics.

And yet during the January protests, even with the internet blocked, reports and video evidence of extrajudicial killings, arrests, and beatings emerged.

Most of this information is known or came from people who accessed social networks through Starlink, human rights organizations believe.

Iran’s current internet setup is described as a “tiered system.”

All Iranians have access to state-run domestic networks that run services such as banking, taxi ordering, and food delivery, as well as state-run media.

Before the blockades, Iranians were also able to access the global internet.

But many internet sites and services such as Instagram, Telegram, YouTube and Vocap are blocked, and the government has set higher prices for access to them than for the domestic network.

Many Iranians have circumvented restrictions by using virtual private networks (VPNs), which connect users to websites via remote servers, hiding their locations.

Subscriptions for them have also raised costs.

Now, under the blockade, only a select few officials and other individuals, including journalists working for state media, have unfettered access to the internet using what is known as a “white SIM card.”

In 2022, Elon Musk announced that he would activate Starlink in Iran after severe internet restrictions during protests sparked by the death of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody.

Since then, its use has only increased, especially during blockades.

Now that authorities are increasingly focused on hunting down Starlink terminals, Sahand and his network are advising users to use VPNs with satellite technology to remain undetected.

But many people cannot afford it, especially in times of economic crisis.

Sahand is one of three people the BBC spoke to who claim to be involved in the smuggling of Starlink devices.

He says the operation he is involved in, including the purchase of the terminal, is being funded by Iranians abroad and others who want to help those in the country.

He says they do not receive funding from any state.

Terminals are sent to people they believe will use them to share information with the world.

“People need the internet to be able to share what’s happening on the ground,” says Sahand.

“We believe these terminals should be in the hands of those who really need them to bring about change.”

A digital rights group, which asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC it estimated that at least 100 people had been arrested for possessing the terminals.

Sahand says he also knows people who have been arrested for accessing or possessing the terminal – but none of them obtained it through him.

Jasmine, an Iranian-American whose name we have also changed, told the BBC that a male member of her family was arrested in Iran and charged with espionage for possessing a Starlink terminal.

The BBC asked the Iranian embassy in London why only a few people have internet access in Iran and why the penalties for using Starlink are so severe, but received no response.

The Iranian government, however, acknowledged that the blockade had hit some businesses hard, with a minister saying in January that each day of internet blockade was costing the economy at least 50 trillion rials ($35 million).

It recently launched a program called “Internet Pro,” which allows some companies some access to the worldwide internet.

A man who works for a company in Iran told the BBC that he gained access through this initiative.

Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said the intention was to “preserve business connectivity during the crisis.”

She also said that the government is “completely against communication injustice” and that as soon as the situation returns to normal, “the situation with the internet will also change.”

“Communication blockades are blatant violations of human rights and can never be justified,” Marwa Fatafta, director of regional policy and advocacy at Access Now, a digital rights group, told the BBC World Service on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3.

She warns that internet blockades are becoming the “new norm.”

According to Exxes Now, in 2025 there were 313 of them in 52 countries, the highest number in the world since it began tracking them in 2016.

Citizens from Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Russia and Iran experienced the highest number of internet blockages last year, according to a digital rights group.

Roja Boroumand, executive director of the Abdorahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights, says that the information vacuum in Iran “enables the state to broadcast its own narrative, portraying protesters as violent actors or foreign agents, while their victims, including those sentenced to death, and informed sources are silenced.

That’s a big motivation for Sahand.

“The Iranian regime has shown that during the blockade it can kill,” he says.

“It is of utmost importance for the Iranians to be able to present a realistic picture of the situation on the ground.”

He says those who volunteer to help with smuggling are “aware of the risks.”

But he adds that it is a “struggle” and that “we feel that we somehow have to intervene and help.”

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The Washington Times – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: Too soon to remove sanctions on Iran

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday that it is too early to consider removing sanctions on Iran, even if the Islamic republic agrees to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a rare rebuke of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s earlier proposal.

Speaking at a conference in Berlin, Ms. von der Leyen said that Iran’s oppressive actions against its public are a stain on its legitimacy and that Tehran would have to show capacity to change before Europe considers sanctions relief.

“We first have to see a change, a fundamental change in Iran for the dropping of sanctions,” she said. “There is a reason why the sanctions are imposed on Iran, because of their behavior toward their own population.”

Ms. von der Leyen pointed to the brutal crackdown in January, when Iranian security forces reportedly fired automatic weapons into massive crowds of protesters. The crackdown killed thousands, though an ongoing war and internet blackout have made confirming exact figures difficult.

Iran said in late January that its forces killed 3,117 people during the crackdown. Independent organizations have put the death count much higher, with the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency estimating security forces killed at least 7,000 people.

Ms. von der Leyen’s comments were seen as a rebuke of Mr. Merz’s proposal earlier this month that the EU would consider removing sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran allowing commercial shipping to resume through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has kept the strait effectively closed since early March with a combination of drones, missiles, small boats and sea mines. Its closure has put extreme pressure on global energy markets and supply, with at least one-fifth of the world’s oil traveling through the strait each year.

Europe, in particular, has suffered from the strait’s closure and has made its reopening the primary peace objective. The EU has worked to shift away from Russian oil imports following the Ukraine war in 2022 and the U.S.-Israel-Iran war has nearly eliminated the continent’s access to Middle Eastern oil.

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Ingin Northern BC – Israel continues attacks in Lebanon despite ceasefire, official says

Despite the declared ceasefire, Israeli attacks killed at least ten people in southern Lebanon on Tuesday (28) and in the early hours of Wednesday (29), according to Lebanese authorities and state media.

Lebanese Civil Defense reported an initial attack on a building in Majdal Zoun, a town near Tyre.

A second attack at the same location killed three members of the Civil Defense, who were “providing aid to people injured” in the previous attack, the organization added.

were injured in the second attack, Civil Defense and the Army reported.

The government’s office condemned the attacks in a statement published on X, adding that Aoun considered the attacks part of “a series that targeted relief workers and first responders.”

In other news, Lebanese state media reported that Israeli strikes killed two people in the southern Lebanese cities of Tebnine and Shaqra, and the Ministry of Health reported that an attack in the town of Jwaya killed one person.

The Health Ministry later reported that an airstrike in the town of Jebchit killed at least two people and injured 13.

Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nasser Al-Din denounced the attacks in Majdal Zoun in a statement released by the ministry on Tuesday night, calling them a violation of international law.

A CNN contacted the Israeli Armed Forces for comment on each incident. Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli military personnel that the terms of the ceasefire with Lebanon allow Israel to continue bombing the entire country.

“Our freedom of action to thwart threats – immediate threats and emerging threats – is part of the agreement we made with the United States and also with the Lebanese government,” Netanyahu said.

What is happening in the Middle East?

The United States and Israel are at war with Iran. The conflict began on February 28, when a coordinated attack between the two countries killed the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in Tehran.

Several high-ranking officials of the Iranian regime were also killed. In addition, the US claims to have destroyed dozens of the country’s ships, as well as air defense systems, planes and other military targets.

In retaliation, the ayatollah regime carried out attacks against several countries in the region, such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq and Oman. Iranian officials say they are targeting only U.S. and Israeli interests in those nations.

More than 1,900 civilians have died in Iran since the start of the war, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The White House, in turn, recorded at least 13 deaths of American soldiers in direct relation to the Iranian attacks.

The conflict also expanded to Lebanon. Hezbollah, an armed group supported by Iran, attacked Israeli territory in retaliation for the death of Ali Khamenei. As a result, Israel has carried out aerial offensives against what it says are Hezbollah targets in the neighboring country. More than 2,500 have died on Lebanese territory since then.

With the death of much of its leadership, an Iranian council elected a new supreme leader: Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ali Khamenei. Experts point out that it will not make structural changes and represents continuity of reflection.

Donald Trump showed dissatisfaction with this choice, classifying it as a “big mistake”. He had said that he would need to be involved in the process and said that Mojtaba would be “unacceptable” to Iran’s leadership.

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The Hill – Iran has executed at least 21 people since start of war: UN human rights chief

The Iranian government has executed at least 21 people since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against the country, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Wednesday.

In a press release, Türk’s office said that since the conflict began on Feb. 28, the Islamic Republic regime has executed at least nine people in connection with anti-government protests in January. The regime has also executed 10 people for alleged membership in opposition groups and two on espionage charges.

“I am appalled that — on top of the already severe impacts of the conflict — the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities, in harsh and brutal ways,” Türk said in the release.

“In times of war, threats to human rights increase exponentially,” he added. “Yet even where national security is invoked, human rights can only be limited where strictly necessary and proportionate, and for a legitimate end. And core, non-derogable rights — such as protection against arbitrary detention, and the right to fair trial — must be respected absolutely, at all times.”

Türk’s office noted that since the war started, Iranian forces have arrested more than 4,000 individuals on national security related charges. Many of those detainees, the office stated, have been “forcibly disappeared, tortured, or subjected to other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including coerced — and sometimes televised — confessions and mock executions.”

Among those detainees are those from ethnic and religious minority groups — including Bahá’ís, Zoroastrians, Kurds, and Baluch Iranians — who have been at “particular risk” during the crackdown.

“I call on the authorities to halt all further executions, establish a moratorium on the use of capital punishment, fully ensure due process and fair trial guarantees, and immediately release those arbitrarily detained,” Türk said.

The January protests against the regime were met with an “unprecedented crackdown” by Iranian forces, according to Amnesty International.

The U.K.-based human rights organization said that month that Iranian authorities cut all internet access to “conceal their crimes,” while security forces “used unlawful force, firearms and other prohibited weapons” against protesters.

During the first 50 days of the demonstrations, nearly 6,500 protesters, 236 children, 76 civilians who were not protesting and 207 military and government forces were killed, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

As for the U.S.-Israeli strikes, more than 1,700 civilians in Iran — including at least 254 children — had been killed since the war started, HRANA reported on April 7. That day, President Trump and the Iranian government agreed to a pause in hostilities.

The pause is ongoing, but negotiations between the Trump administration and Iranian officials on curbing Tehran’s nuclear program have largely stalled.

Early Wednesday morning, the president warned the Iranian regime that it “better get smart soon” in a post on Truth Social along with an AI-generated image of himself, donning sunglasses and carrying a machine gun, with explosions going off in the background.

The caption of the image reads, “No More Mr. Nice Guy!”

 

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The Intercept – Hegseth Brags of a Deadlier War Machine as U.S. Unleashes “Devastating Civilian Harm Globally”

President Donald Trump has imperiled civilians across the globe in an unprecedented fashion, outpacing his record of civilian harm during his first term in just the first 15 months of his second, according to experts. The spike in civilian casualties comes as Trump wages wars across the world from Africa to South America and as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth repeatedly brushed off questions by members of Congress on Wednesday about civilian casualties, the U.S. military’s adherence to the laws of war, and the Pentagon’s coordinated campaign to erode civilian harm mitigation efforts.

Trump has embroiled the U.S. in more than 20 military interventions, armed conflicts, and wars during his five-plus years in the White House, including a furious blitz during his second term. In March, for example, the United States made war on three continents over three days, conducting attacks in Africa, Asia, and South America. During that span, the U.S. also struck a civilian boat in the Pacific Ocean.

On Wednesday, Hegseth repeatedly dismissed congressional concerns about civilian harm and respect for the laws of war in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. “The Department of War fights to win,” Hegseth replied when asked if he stood by his statement that the U.S. would afford enemies “no quarter” — a war crime.

“Secretary Hegseth has presided over an expansion in U.S. military operations that has caused devastating civilian harm globally, from Yemen, Iran, and Somalia to extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean and Pacific,” said Annie Shiel, U.S. director at the Center for Civilians in Conflict. “This is against the backdrop of a serious reduction in the United States’ capacity and will to prevent civilian harm, including statements from administration officials threatening civilian infrastructure and decrying ‘stupid rules of engagement,’ and the slashing of U.S. military offices and staff tasked with preventing civilian harm.”

The U.S. has killed more than 2,000 civilians across the world during Trump’s second term from Latin America to Africa to the Middle East. “This is unprecedented in terms of the sheer number of theaters where harm to civilians has been reported within such a short space of time,” Megan Karlshoej-Pedersen, a policy specialist with Airwars, a U.K.-based organization that tracks civilian harm across the world, told The Intercept, referencing attacks in the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, Iran, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.

“This is unprecedented in terms of the sheer number of theaters where harm to civilians has been reported within such a short space of time.”

“Even excluding Iran, we saw that at least 381 civilians were killed by the Trump administration so far, with harm recorded across seven different theaters,” Karlshoej-Pedersen, who is also the co-founder of the Civilian Protection Monitor, explained. “Even if the Trump administration is only responsible for a proportion of those deaths, it looks as if the first year-plus of this Trump administration has been even more deadly for civilians than his whole first term,” she said.

Adding in the 1,700 civilians killed in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, pushes the death toll — and the overall threat to civilians — to a historic level.

Other counts of civilian casualties in Iran push the death toll even higher. “U.S.–Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 2,362 civilians, including 383 children, and injured over 32,314 civilians, according to official figures,” Raha Bahreini, a regional researcher with Amnesty International’s Iran Team told The Intercept and other journalists during a press briefing. This includes an attack on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school that killed at least 175 people, most of them children.

The preliminary findings of a U.S. military investigation revealed by The Intercept and other outlets determined that the United States conducted the attack on the elementary school in Minab, contradicting assertions by Trump that Iran struck the school.

“The girls’ school that got hit in the first days of this war, there is absolutely no question at this point what happened. We made a mistake,” said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, on Wednesday. “We identified this target based on earlier charts. And yet, two months after it happened, we refused to say anything about it, giving the world the impression that we just don’t care.”

The Pentagon has deflected questions on the Minab attack for almost two months. “This incident is currently under investigation,” Hegseth’s office told The Intercept on Wednesday, while the war secretary said the same to members of Congress, refusing to answer questions about the attack.

“U.S. authorities must ensure that the investigation they announced into the unlawful strike on Minab school is impartial, independent and transparent,” said Bahreini, adding that America “must also repudiate all threats to commit war crimes and other crimes under international law and commit publicly to full respect for international humanitarian law, particularly the prohibition of directing attacks at civilians and civilian objects.”

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump threatened to commit genocide in Iran, ahead of warnings of a wave of attacks on civilian infrastructure. After backing off, Trump lobbed new threats on Truth Social on Wednesday. “Iran can’t get their act together,” Trump wrote, above an AI-generated image of himself, donning sunglasses and carrying an automatic rifle, with explosions going off in the background. The caption of the image reads, “No more Mr. Nice Guy!”

During his testimony on Wednesday, Hegseth lobbed his own bellicose threats. “The days in which these narco-terrorists — Designated Terrorist Organizations — operated freely in our hemisphere are over,” he said. “We are tracking them. We are killing them.” Under Operation Southern Spear, the U.S. military has conducted 55 attacks on so-called drug boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean, destroying 56 vessels and killing more than 185 civilians since last September. The latest strike, on April 26 in the Pacific, killed three people. The Trump administration claims its victims are members of at least one of 24 or more cartels and criminal gangs with whom it claims to be at war but refuses to name.

The casualties in Yemen include an attack on an immigrant detention center last year, killing and injuring dozens of Ethiopian civilians, according to an investigation by Amnesty International. “The Trump administration’s Yemen campaign, and this attack in particular, should have set off alarm bells for anyone invested in how the U.S. military operates, and the amount of care or disdain it shows for civilian life,” said Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. “One year on, not only has there been no discernible progress towards justice and reparation, but we’re still lacking basic information about what happened in the Yemen attack, why it happened and what steps if any the U.S. military has taken to address it.”

When it comes to the Trump administration’s neglect for civilian harm, experts say Yemen was the canary in the coal mine. Airwars tracked reports of at least 224 civilians in Yemen killed by U.S. airstrikes during the Trump administration’s campaign of air and naval strikes — codenamed Operation Rough Rider — against Yemen’s Houthi government in the spring of 2025. This nearly doubled the civilian casualty toll in Yemen from U.S. attacks since 2002, meaning that almost as many civilians were reportedly killed in 52 days as the previous 23 years of airstrikes and commando raids. The Yemen Data Project put the death toll at 238 civilians, at a minimum, and another 467 civilians injured.

Hegseth spent Wednesday defending the Pentagon’s civilian harm mitigation machinery in the face of evidence that he has consistently taken steps to undermine it.

“I know that there is no country on Planet Earth that takes more measures to ensure that civilian harm or civilian casualties are minimized than the United States of America and this War Department. And that is a fact,” he told the House Armed Services Committee. But Hegseth has gutted the Pentagon offices responsible for civilian harm mitigation and fired the Air Force’s and Army’s top judge advocates general to avoid “roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief.” Distinguished former JAGs and members of Congress have repeatedly spoken out about Hegseth’s efforts to undermine the independence of military legal counsel and subvert military justice.

The Intercept also found that U.S. Southern Command is unable to cope with the volume of civilian casualty reports stemming from the military mission to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, according to two government officials. Instead, the Pentagon itself is accepting reports directly.

On Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, raised the issue of the war secretary’s cuts to Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response efforts. “You eliminated the department’s civilian harm reduction staff,” she said, then asking, “Would you not agree something failed because almost 200 children died in Iran as a result of our bombing?”

Hegseth replied, “You’re insinuating something where an investigation is not complete.”

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The Algemeiner – Iran Has Executed At Least 21 People, Arrested Over 4,000 Since Start of War With US and Israel, UN Reports

The Islamic regime in Iran has intensified efforts to oppress the civilian population through arrests and executions since the beginning of the conflict with the US and Israel, according to the United Nations.

On Wednesday, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) revealed that Iran had executed at least 21 people and arrested more than 4,000 over the last two months, following the launch of joint US-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28.

Allegations which resulted in death sentences included espionage (two), opposition group membership (10), and involvement with protests (nine).

“In times of war, threats to human rights increase exponentially,” said Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Türk called for regime officials to “halt all further executions, establish a moratorium on the use of capital punishment, fully ensure due process and fair trial guarantees, and immediately release those arbitrarily detained.”

Iranian courts have reportedly fast-tracked convictions and sentencing in recent months, citing the war as justification.

According to the OHCHR, those detained face brutal conditions, overcrowding, and even torture to coerce confessions. The bodies of some detainees who have died in custody appear to show possible torture. Those detained also experience weaponized medical neglect, a human rights violation which has reportedly led to the deteriorating health of imprisoned Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi.

In addition to forced confessions, Iranian judges can also resort to the principle of elm‑e‑qazi, a concept in Iran’s Islamic Penal Code which allows a guilty sentence based solely on circumstantial evidence.

Last week, Maryam Rajavi, president‑elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), spoke about the regime’s executions at the European Parliament in Brussels.

“The mullahs are exploiting wartime conditions to resort to relentless executions to block the path of popular uprisings. Today, political prisoners face the threat of mass killing,” Rajavi said. “The silence of European Union leaders and member states is unjustifiable. And today, I wish to once again raise my voice in protest against this silence in the face of these executions.”

Rajavi added that “a number of young people have been arrested in recent weeks on charges of alleged contact with or support for the Mojahedin Organization,” referring to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), an Iranian opposition group.

“The names of a group of them have been submitted to and communicated to international bodies,” she said. “By order of the regime’s judiciary chief, pressure and torture on political prisoners have intensified, and their sham trials and the issuance of criminal sentences have been expedited.”

Stating that 11 political prisoners alleged to be members of the MEK face execution, Rajavi implored that “urgent action must be taken to save their lives. Our position is that a halt to executions in Iran, as a demand of the entire Iranian people, must be included in any international agreement.”

Last month, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), an independent monitoring group, released a report documenting that from March 2025 to March 2026, police had arrested 78,907 people on ideological or political grounds.

Executions in the last Iranian year (covering much of calendar year 2025) reached at least 2,488, according to HRANA, with 63 of them women and two children. Drug offenses accounted for 955 executions, approximately three killings per day on average.

The Islamic regime chose to conduct 13 of the executions in public.

Earlier this month, the European groups Iran Human Rights (IHR) in Norway and Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) in France released a separate joint report finding that Iran executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, a 68 percent leap from the 975 killed in 2024 and the highest seen since tracking began in 2008. All known executions were reportedly conducted by hanging.

Differences in methodology partially explain the discrepancy in tallies. IHR warned in its report that the full body count is likely much higher, as the group requires two sources to confirm an execution.

Iran’s penal code offers a variety of options for killing a human being, including hanging, firing squads, and even crucifixion or stoning. Hanging was the only method used from 2008 until the firing squad execution of Kurdish political prisoner Hedayat Abdullahpour on May 11, 2020.

In executions for murder under a sentence known as qisas, the Islamic regime encourages the family members of the victim to carry out the killing themselves. IHR has received reports of family members taking advantage of what is regarded as a “right” to do so.

In cases of public executions, prison officials use cranes. This brutal method leaves the condemned suffocating and strangling, lifted above the crowds for as much as 20 minutes before their suffering can conclude.

Photographs have documented children in attendance at public executions in Iran to watch the violence and cruelty. A 2006 study found that 52 percent of 200 children who witnessed public executions in Iran later showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with “88 suffering re-experiences, 24 avoidance and 62 hyperarousal.”

IHR has not found any executions by stoning since 2010, following the international outcry of the sentencing of Sakineh Ashtiani whose sentence was commuted, allowing her 2014 release.

Given the historical impact of the global community’s condemnations, Iranian officials have sought to hide human rights abuses from the world, imposing an internet blackout for 61 days since the war with the US and Israel began.

“This is denying people across the country access to vital information, silencing independent voices, and inflicting enormous social and economic harm,” Türk said. “It is exacerbating an already precarious humanitarian and economic situation and must be lifted immediately.”

Concluding her address to the European congress in Brussels, Rajavi called on the gathered representatives to implement a new policy toward Iran.

Rajavi advocated an approach that “provides the necessary technical means to ensure the Iranian people’s access to a free internet. Conditions relations with the clerical regime on an end to the execution of political prisoners and the killing of protesters. Brings the regime’s leaders to justice for crimes against humanity and genocide.”

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La Voce di New York – Trump Thanks Iran As It Spares Eight Women

Eight Iranian women arrested during the January protests will not be executed. Donald Trump announced the news Wednesday on Truth Social, calling it “very good news”: four will be released immediately, four sentenced to one month in prison. “I very much appreciate that Iran, and its leaders, respected my request, as President of the United States, and terminated the planned execution,” he wrote.

Iran’s judiciary continued to deny the women had ever faced execution, saying Trump was “misled once again by fake news” and that some had already been released while others faced charges carrying at most prison sentences. Rights groups contest that account. One documented case is that of Bita Hemmati, sentenced to death according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for her participation in protests on January 8 and 9 – charges that included throwing objects including concrete blocks and incendiary materials from rooftops and destroying public property.

Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad, who lives in the United States, had publicized the names and photos of all eight women, specifying which four were believed to be under a death sentence.

The announcement comes as U.S.-Iran negotiations remain stalled. Trump extended the ceasefire while awaiting Tehran’s response to the latest American proposal. The president reiterated that his primary goal is an agreement to end Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and retrieve an estimated 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium.

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Democracy Now – Trump Extends Iran Ceasefire But Maintains Blockade as Iran Seizes Ships in Strait of Hormuz

President Trump announced Tuesday he is extending the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely at the request of Pakistan. An Iranian official tells BBC that Iran has still not decided whether it will attend a new round of peace talks with the U.S. later this week. Vice President JD Vance has canceled a planned trip to Islamabad, Pakistan. Despite the ceasefire, the U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports. But earlier today, Iran attacked three cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz, seizing two of them. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the blockade “an act of war and thus a violation of the ceasefire,” warning that Tehran knows “how to resist bullying,” and threatening to completely close the Strait of Hormuz and strike energy and desalination infrastructure across the region. Meanwhile, the head of the International Energy Agency declared Tuesday that the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has created the worst energy crisis the world has ever faced. It comes as satellite images reveal multiple large oil spills spreading across the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz as a direct result of U.S., Israeli and Iranian strikes on oil facilities and vessels, with environmental experts warning of an impending ecological disaster. The Pentagon confirms 13 U.S. service members have been killed and 415 wounded in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Meanwhile, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, 3,636 people have been killed in Iran by U.S.-Israeli strikes, among them 254 children.

 

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Al-Monitor – Iran executes 14th person since war over alleged Mossad ties: What to know

Iran executed a man on Wednesday who the regime accused of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, as the Islamic Republic’s crackdown in the country deepens following anti-regime protests earlier this year and the recent war with the United States and Israel.

What happened: Mahdi Farid, 55, who was accused by authorities of providing sensitive national information to the Mossad, was hanged at dawn on Wednesday after his sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court, the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.

He was found guilty of “intelligence cooperation and espionage for the Zionist regime” on the vague charge of “corruption on earth,” though no evidence was provided.

What we know: Mizan claimed that Farid served as the head of ​a civil ​defense unit within a sensitive ‌organization ⁠in Iran, which it did not name, and used his position to collect and transmit information to the Mossad. According to the judiciary, he confessed during the proceedings to having come into contact with a Mossad officer, who asked him to provide sensitive information such as organizational charts, internal building layouts, security conditions and details of defense-related facilities.

Farid, who was from Arak in northwestern Iran, was arrested in May 2023 and had been working at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran prior to his arrest, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group. He was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison but was given a death sentence in July 2025 on charges of cooperating with Israel.

The judiciary did not specify where the execution took place. However, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported last November that Farid had been transferred from Evin Prison in Tehran to Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj.

Why it matters: The UK-based IranWire news outlet cited a source close to the family last November as saying that Farid denied knowingly cooperating with a foreign agent and had referred the matter to “relevant authorities,” though it did not provide further details.

Rights groups have repeatedly accused Iranian authorities of issuing death sentences following unfair trials and confessions extracted under torture, a trend that has only worsened amid mass protests earlier this year and the recent war.

Iran is the world’s second-largest executioner after China, according to Amnesty International. In 2025, at least 1,639 people were executed in Iran, the highest number recorded since 1989, according to an annual report released earlier this month by Iran Human Rights and the Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty.

Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown on individuals accused of cooperating with the United States and Israel since the war began, arresting more than 3,646 people, including at least 767 detained after a 45-day ceasefire was announced on April 8. This comes amid a nationwide internet blackout, now in its 54th day, which rights groups warn is being used to conceal human rights violations, according to the report.

The report states that executions resumed on March 19 following an unspecified pause that came after threats by US President Donald Trump against Iranian leaders during the protests that began in December 2025.

Amid a wave of arrests, concerns are mounting that the already high number of executions could rise further. On Tuesday, Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, warned that “punishments will be carried out swiftly and without administrative red tape.” He had previously urged authorities to expedite trials for individuals suspected of collaborating with Israel.

Meanwhile, Trump on Tuesday urged Iran to release eight female detainees who are reportedly facing execution. The eight women were arrested as part of the crackdown on anti-regime protests that erupted in January.

“To the Iranian leaders, who will soon be in negotiations with my representatives: I would greatly appreciate the release of these women,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Mizan, however, denied that the women were at risk of execution, dismissing Trump’s claim as “fake news.” In a report published Tuesday, the judiciary-affiliated outlet said some of the individuals he mentioned had already been released, while others face charges that could lead to prison sentences.

Know more: Even before the war, Iranian authorities regularly arrested individuals suspected of spying for Israel, often without publicly presenting evidence.

As many as 21,000 suspects were arrested during Iran’s 12-day war last June, during which several nuclear facilities were targeted in Israeli strikes, according to Iranian police.

Farid’s execution is the latest case linked to Iran’s nuclear sector.

Last October, Iranian nuclear engineer Javad Naeimi was executed in Qom on charges of collaborating with Israeli intelligence. According to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, he was arrested in February 2024 and sentenced to death following what was widely described as a politically motivated trial.

In August 2025, nuclear scientist Rouzbeh Vadi was hanged at Ghezel Hesar Prison after being found guilty of spying for Israel’s Mossad. He had been working with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran at the time of his arrest in February 2024. Authorities accused him of passing information about a scientist who was killed in Israeli airstrikes in June 2025, while rights groups say his confession was obtained under severe torture.

 

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ABC News – Executions of protesters in Iran surge since start of war, human rights groups say

While the total executions carried out in Iran increased to a record number last year, executions performed by the Islamic Republic have been on an “alarming surge” since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began, human rights observers say.

Iranian authorities also appeared to accelerate arrests during the war and the current ceasefire on a range of charges, including espionage and actions against national security, according to Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and the IRGC Intelligence Forces, which publish news of recent arrests in different cities almost daily.

Since the war began on Feb. 28, Iranian officials have announced the executions of at least 13 political prisoners.

This comes after at least 1,639 people were executed by the Iranian regime in 2025, which was 68% more than the year before and the highest number recorded since 1989, according to a joint report by Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty, on April 13.

In the latest officially announced execution, Iranian authorities said that Sultan Ali Shirzadi Fakhr was put to death on Thursday on charges including “collaboration with the Israeli intelligence service.” According to Mizan, the judiciary’s news agency, he had been involved in operations against the country.

A day earlier, on Wednesday, Mehdi Farid, a former employee of one of the country’s “sensitive state-run organizations,” was executed on espionage charges, Mizan reported. The news agency did not clarify what organization Farid had worked for, but added that he was convicted of “corruption on Earth” for alleged cooperation with Israel.

On Tuesday, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic confirmed that Amir Ali Mirjafari, one of the protesters detained during the January protests in the country, was executed by hanging, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

Mizan reported that Mirjafari had allegedly “set fire” to a mosque in Tehran during the protests, accusing him of “collaboration with the Zionist regime, acting against national security and betraying the Iranian people.”

There are no independent details available on how the claimed evidence was examined in Mirjafari’s case, or whether it could be verified through a transparent judicial process, the U.S.-based Human Rights News Agency (HRANA) said in a statement on Tuesday.

Accusations like “espionage for Israel and the U.S.” and “acting against national security” are among the usual charges that the Islamic Republic has used for punishing dissidents, Iranian lawyers and human rights activists told ABC News.

Mai Sato, a U.N. expert on the human rights situation in Iran, previously warned about the new executions in Iran in a post on X, saying that the reported proceedings “include serious violations of fair trial standards.”

In the months before the war with the U.S. and Israel began in late February, the Iranian regime committed massacres to suppress a series of nationwide protests in the country while imposing an internet blackout to prevent the voices of protesters and families of the victims from being heard by the world, and to disrupt their communication with one another, according to the U.S. and international observers.

While protests had been ignited over the severe economic hardships with the dramatic fall of the country’s currency in the last days of 2025, some protesters across the country would go on to demand the fall of the Islamic regime and shout “death to the Islamic Republic.”

According to HRANA, over 7,000 people — including at least 6,488 protesters — were killed in the protests, and over 50,000 people were arrested. ABC News could not independently verify those figures.

The first execution of protesters arrested for charges related to January’s unrest was officially announced by the Islamic Republic authorities on March 19. The Iranian judiciary said that three protestors — Saleh Mohammadi, Saeed Davoudi and Mehdi Ghasemi — were executed for charges including “action in favor of the Israeli regime and the hostile government of the United States of America.”

Amirhossein Hatami, an 18-year-old protester, was one of the dissidents who was executed after the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began. He was executed on April 2, according to Mizan. The report alleged that Hatami was involved in burning government property.

Amnesty International, writing on social media, described Hatami’s trial as “grossly unfair.”

Two other protesters, Mohammadamin Biglari and Shahin Vahedparast, who had been arrested for the same case as Hatami, were executed three days later on April 5, Mizan reported.

Executions for security and intelligence-related charges are not limited to protesters. Like Farid and Shirzadi, who were executed on espionage charges, Hamed Validi and Nima Shahi are among the former political prisoners who were executed. They were executed on April 20, on charges of “enmity against God” and “cooperation with Mossad,” according to Iran’s judiciary.

The head of Iran’s Forensic Medicine Organization, Abbas Masjedi, said on April 13 that they had identified 3,375 victims killed during the ongoing war, adding that 2,875 of the victims were men and 496 were women. Given the age breakdown he provided, at least 383 children were among the dead. He didn’t specify how many of those killed were military-affiliated or civilians.

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