Iran Executes Mehrab Abdollahzadeh After UN Verifies 32 Political Prisoners

Iran has seen a surge in executions since the start of the U.S. and Israel attack on 28 February, with the UN saying it has verified the execution of at least 32 political prisoners.

“- Published The line is crackly”

BBC

The BBC reported that Mehrab Abdollahzadeh, on death row in western Iran, recorded a voice note saying, "You are hearing my voice from Oromiyeh Central Prison, and this may be the last time you hear it," before he was put to death earlier this month.

BBC

Amnesty International said Iran carried out more than 2,150 executions in 2025, and the organization said it documented 2,159 executions in Iran alone.

The BBC also said Amnesty International recorded 45 executions on politically motivated charges across all of 2025, and it described the death penalty as increasingly being used to silence political dissent.

In Iran, the BBC reported that executions are carried out by hanging and "They weaponise the death penalty as a tool of political repression, to instil fear among the population".

Amnesty International said it confirmed the executions of more than 2,707 people in 17 countries during 2025, with 2,159 executions in Iran, and it said the total does not include thousands of executions believed to have been carried out in China due to government opacity.

The BBC reported that executions are carried out at dawn and that people in Iran have been waking up to near-daily announcements of executions, citing Nassim Papayianni of Amnesty International.

Kurdistan Human Rights Network

The BBC said the UN Human Rights Office spokesperson was concerned others were happening in secret, while the BBC also reported that Iranian authorities did not respond to its request for comment on increased use of the death penalty and claims of torture.

The BBC described Erfan Shakourzadeh, a 29-year-old master's student in aerospace engineering, as hanged on 11 May, with Iran's judiciary saying he was convicted of sharing classified information with Israeli and US intelligence.

The BBC added that Hengaw human rights organisation published a note it said Shakourzadeh wrote before his death, including the line, "I was arrested on fabricated espionage charges and, after eight and a half months of torture and solitary confinement, was forced into a false confession."

In Iranian Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network said harsh conditions were imposed on prisoners in wartime conditions, especially political prisoners, and it reported that Special Forces Unit personnel were stationed in the main courtyards of prisons.

Relatives of Kurdish political prisoners in Urmia told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network that since the war began, "all in-person and video visits for prisoners at Urmia Central Prison have been banned," and they said sick prisoners were not being sent to the prison infirmary or external medical centers.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network also reported that families said more than 150 prisoners were transferred from Mahabad Prison to Miandoab Prison, where they were kept in two quarantine rooms in harsh conditions without access to basic facilities.

The BBC said the UN verified the execution of at least 32 political prisoners since 28 February, and it described the January uprising as being crushed with lethal force leading to thousands of deaths.

Kaveh Kermanshahi of the Kurdistan Human Rights Network told the BBC that, "through intensified repression and an increase in executions," the regime was attempting to stage a display of power and project the message: 'I am still here, and I still control the situation,'.