On July 22, Iranian authorities executed Mehdi Khanaki. He was the 24th known person arbitrarily executed in the country since March 18 in connection with recent protests.
The number of executions in Iran has significantly increased. Over the past four months alone, authorities have executed at least 50 people on vague national security charges, including several 18 and 19-year-old teenagers.
Cases have been characterized by extremely summary proceedings and gross fair trial violations. Several men have been arbitrarily executed over accusations of “espionage” or “collaboration with hostile states,” including based on the new Espionage Law, used by the authorities to further repress the population, especially since the January 2026 countrywide massacres.
And authorities have announced several more executions since the resumption of US-Iran hostilities in early July. Scores of protesters and dissidents remain on death row, with over 70 protesters reportedly under death sentences in one prison alone.
It’s a harrowing reminder of the atrocity risks people in Iran face: lethal domestic repression and unlawful military strikes, such as the one that killed scores of children in a primary school in Minab on February 28.
President Trump’s recent threats to target infrastructure that may be indispensable to civilian survival have only heightened these concerns.
Fears are also growing for prisoners, especially in southern Iran, where deteriorating conditions are reported, including water and electricity cuts caused and/or exacerbated by military strikes amid extreme heat.
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