Tehran, Iran \u2013 Iran\u2019s judiciary has announced several executions this week linked to unrest over recent months, as part of a campaign against those accused of trying to \u201ccreate divisions\u201d during the war with the United States.<\/p>\n
The judiciary\u2019s official news outlet on Wednesday announced the execution<\/a> of Mehdi Khanaki, who was identified as an \u201cactive element of a terrorist group\u201d arrested during nationwide protests in January.<\/p>\n State television showed security forces raiding a home in Karaj near Tehran, where several handguns, ammunition and explosives were allegedly found. A \u201crevolutionary court\u201d in the city tried him for \u201coperational action in favour of the Zionist regime, the United States and hostile groups\u201d, among other things.<\/p>\n On Sunday, two more men were executed in connection with a 16-defendant case arising from deadly protests<\/a> in Isfahan, in central Iran, on January 8. The authorities said the men played a role in the killing of several police officers, but foreign-based activists have countered the state narrative and alleged a lack of due process and the use of torture.<\/p>\n The protests started last December 28 in central Tehran over economic issues but quickly morphed into nationwide expressions of frustration at the establishment, as in previous rounds of demonstrations.<\/p>\n The authorities refer to the unrest, when thousands were killed<\/a> across the country, mostly on the nights of January 8 and 9 , as a \u201ccoup\u201d orchestrated by the US and Israel.<\/p>\n They also reject findings by Amnesty International and other international human rights organisations that security forces carried out \u201cmass unlawful killings on an unprecedented scale\u201d during a total internet and communications shutdown.<\/p>\n Tens of thousands have been arrested in the aftermath of the protests, as well as the US-Israeli war that started on February 28 .<\/p>\n The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers\u2019 Trade Associations, a non-governmental body inside Iran, last week condemned what it called \u201cintensified prison sentences and continued pressure on teachers\u2019 guild activists\u201d by the authorities.<\/p>\n Security-related offences follow a law passed<\/a> after the 12-day war with Israel in June 2025, which aims to more severely punish \u201cespionage\u201d and other actions perceived to be cooperating with \u201cenemies\u201d and undermining national security.<\/p>\n Hundreds of Iranians, including businessmen and celebrities based in Iran and abroad, have also had their entire assets confiscated by the state.<\/p>\n State TV also periodically airs \u201cconfessions\u201d from people arrested or executed for those charges.<\/p>\n The latest was broadcast on Monday, when a young man with a blurred-out face could be seen saying he posted Instagram stories that opposed the Islamic Republic during the current war. Tehran\u2019s police force said the unidentified man released \u201cnorm-breaking and anti-homeland content\u201d online in an attempt to \u201cdamage the psychological security of the society\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI made a mistake and I will not repeat it. I am now sure that we must all now stand together to build Iran, nobody else has a right to commit an aggression against our country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On July 13 , Iran\u2019s Ministry of Intelligence released a list of \u201chostile media\u201d that included dozens of media networks, 61 individual \u201chuman-media\u201d figures and 310 accounts or online pages. It warned that sending photographs, video or information to a listed outlet, person or account can trigger a prison sentence and permanent exclusion from public employment, unless authorities invoke a more serious charge.<\/p>\n \u2018Infiltrators\u2019<\/p>\n The message goes along with rhetoric of steadfastness and togetherness that has been repeatedly emphasised by Iranian authorities during the war.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, Mojtaba Khamenei, who was selected as Iran\u2019s new supreme leader in March after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the opening salvo of the war, called for a \u201csacred unity<\/a>\u201d among the people and political factions.<\/p>\n Speaking during a televised meeting on Monday with President Masoud Pezeshkian and senior clerical judges in the judiciary, Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei doubled down on the same message \u2013 complete with heavy religious undertones.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must not allow devils among humans and jinn to infiltrate the ranks of believers and our people to create division and schism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The judiciary chief said these \u201calarmists, rumour-spreaders, hypocrites and infiltrators\u201d would not all declare themselves as such, instead disguising themselves as insiders who would set people against each other.<\/p>\n