UN experts urge Iran to cancel 10 protest death sentences after two executions

UN experts urged Iran on Monday to cancel death sentences imposed on 10 young men linked to anti-government protests in January, after two other defendants in the same case were executed.

The experts said 12 men, aged from their late teens to early twenties, were sentenced to death and that two were executed on July 19.

They said sentencing all 12 in a single closed hearing, without establishing each defendant’s individual responsibility, violated fair-trial standards.

The 13 experts are UN special rapporteurs and members of working groups on forced disappearances and arbitrary detention. They do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.

The January protests began over the high cost of living and were met with a deadly crackdown on January 8 and 9.

Iranian authorities said more than 3,000 people died and blamed the violence on what they called terrorist acts orchestrated by the United States and Israel.

Foreign-based NGOs said thousands of people were killed in the crackdown.

According to the UN experts, Iran has executed 24 people linked to the January protests this year.

The 12 condemned men were accused of involvement in the deaths of four members of the security forces and of arson and vandalism during protests in Shahid Alikhani Square in Isfahan on January 8.

The experts said the convictions were based on televised confessions.

They said the charges remained unclear because Revolutionary Court hearings are closed and judgments are not published.

Some of the defendants were also reportedly forcibly disappeared and subjected to ill-treatment, the experts said.

Amnesty International and other NGOs say Iran carries out more executions than any country except China.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights and the Paris-based anti-death penalty organisation ECPM said Iran executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, the highest annual number since 1989.