Iran Using Executions To Deter Dissent, Rights Groups Say

New posts 09:56 Iranian police prepare a rope for a hanging. (file photo) Iranian authorities have sharply escalated the use ofexecutions against protestersand political dissidents, often after rushed trials marred by torture allegations and other serious due-process violations, two human rights groups said on September 10. Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran said authorities were using the death penalty to instill fear and deter further public dissent following nationwide protests earlier this year. Between March 18 and the end of August, authorities executed at least 59 men on politically motivated and vaguely worded national security charges, including 29 people arrested in connection with the December 2025-January 2026 protests, the groups said. Several were aged 18 or 19, and five were executed in public. In 16 of the 29 protest-related cases, authorities made no allegation that the defendants had killed anyone. Some were accused of acts including damaging public property, throwing stones, or breaking into government buildings. Day after day, Irans authorities are sending protesters, including teenagers, to the gallows based on torture-tainted confessions, said Bahar Saba, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. The groups said defendants had been denied access to independent lawyers and convicted on vaguely worded capital charges including waging war against God and corruption on earth. In some cases, little more than five weeks elapsed between arrest and execution. Scores of protesters and dissidents, including women and children, remain at imminent risk of execution, the groups said. The authorities message is clearly that protests will be met with brutality, Saba said. The groups urged UN member states to press Tehran to halt executions and establish a moratorium on the death penalty. The increase in political executions comes amid a broader surge in the use of the death penalty in Iran. The Boroumand Center recorded at least 2,113 executions in 2025, the highest annual figure known since the late 1980s. Meanwhile, the Iran Human Rights group says ithas recorded 549 executionsso far this year. Copy link Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Email Share 21:11 9.9.2026 By Frud Bezhan US President Donald Trump said he believes that the more than six-month war with Iran will end immediately after the midterm elections in November. US President Donald Trump speaks to the media at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on September 9, 2026. I think the war will end immediately after the election because Iran can't hold out any longer, Trump told reporters on September 9. He accused Tehran of being desperate to try and affect the elections. The war with Iran is expected to loom large over the elections. The conflict is unpopular with many Americans, while rising gas prices connected to the war are adding to the economic pressures facing voters. In his comments to reporters, Trump also said the United States was not looking for a deal to end the Iran war, although he added that negotiations could happen. In June, Tehran and Washington signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending hostilities, but the agreement soon unraveled. In recent weeks, the sides have been engaged in tit-for-tat strikes that observers say could risk escalating into a return to full-scale conflict. Copy link Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Email Share 20:37 9.9.2026 Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said a Sunni cleric has been killed in the countrys northwest. Mohammad Nezhati was martyred in a brutal terrorist crime committed by Zionist-American separatist groups," the IRGC said in a September 9 statement, according to state media. It was not clear when Nezhati was killed. The IRGC said Nezhati was a member of the volunteer Basij paramilitary force, which is estimated to have around 1 million members and is commanded by the Revolutionary Guards. Opposition Iranian Kurdish groups based in Iraqs Kurdistan region are active across the border in northwestern Iran. Tehran has long accused the groups of having links to the United States and Israel. The IRGC said the attack was aimed at undermining unity between Shia and Sunni Muslims in Iran. A Shia-majority country, Iran has sizeable Sunni communities in the countrys western and southeastern regions. Copy link Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Email Share 18:52 9.9.2026 The UN nuclear watchdog's board of governors voted on September 9 to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over breaches of its nuclear non-proliferation obligations, the first such referral in 20 years. The 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted the resolution by 23 votes to three, with eight abstentions. Russia, China, and Niger voted against it. The resolution, submitted by Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, expressed "grave concern" over Iran's continued noncompliance and called on Tehran to cooperate with the IAEA and engage in talks aimed at demonstrating the peaceful nature of its nuclear program. As a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is required under a safeguards agreement with the IAEA to allow the agency to verify the countrys declared nuclear material. The IAEA has lacked access to key Iranian nuclear facilities since Israeli and US strikes in June 2025, leaving the fate of an estimated 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent uncertain. Uranium enriched to 60 percent is a short technical step from the roughly 90 percent purity considered weapons grade. Iran claims its nuclear program is peaceful, while the United States and Israel have long accused Tehran of pursuing an atomic weapons capability. Iranian nuclear facilities have also been targeted in the latest US-Israeli war with Iran, further complicating the IAEA's efforts to monitor the country's nuclear program. Iran's ambassador to the UN in Vienna, Reza Najafi, dismissed the resolution as a "political tool," saying Tehran would cooperate only "to the extent that circumstances and safety permit." Any punitive action by the Security Council is likely to face opposition from Iran's allies Russia and China, both of which hold veto power. Copy link Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Email Share 18:33 9.9.2026 By RFE/RL Iran said it attacked vessels near the Strait of Hormuz on September 9 after the United States destroyed several Iranian oil tankers overnight, in a sharp escalation in the six-month war. The tit-for-tat strikes led to a surge in global oil prices, with Brent crude reaching $100 per barrel for the first time since July. Tehran also said it had fired ballistic missiles at a US base in Jordan. No casualties or damage were reported.The US military said it sank five Iranian oil tankers overnight near Kharg Island, Irans main oil export hub, calling it a response to Tehran firing missiles at a US Navy warship over the past two days. Iran retaliated by firing 20 ballistic missiles toward Jordan, which said it intercepted 18 of them. Jordan said two of the missiles landed in unpopulated areas. Read morehere Copy link Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Email Share 17:06 9.9.2026 New satellite imagery shows a surge in construction at Iran's deeply buried Pickaxe Mountain complex near the Natanz nuclear facility, but the activity does not appear to indicate that Iran is currently enriching uranium there, according to anew analysisby the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). CSIS said its analysis of six years of satellite imagery showed more road activity at Pickaxe Mountain in 2026 than at any previous point in the site's history. Recent work included hardening tunnel entrances, paving internal roads, reinforcing access areas, and removing excavation spoil, suggesting the project has shifted from excavation toward probable construction inside the underground complex. The researchers said the imagery could neither confirm nor refute reports that Iran moved centrifuges and centrifuge components into Pickaxe Mountain last year. But continued construction, the lack of increased internal security, and the absence of non-construction vehicles and equipment suggested the facility was "not yet capable of enrichment work," if that is its intended purpose.