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Iran’s judiciary announced the executions of the three men in Karaj on Sunday after the Supreme Court confirmed their death sentences for participating in armed unrest. According to the judiciary, Dioband, Kazemi and Zanganeh used firearms, grenades and Molotov cocktails to attack public facilities and damage an electricity substation that caused power outages in surrounding areas. The judiciary said Dioband had been arrested on January 11 after investigators identified him as the supervisor of the attacks on public property and incitement to violence, with ten additional defendants later detained in connection with the case.
Those ten other participants received prison terms ranging from five to 10 years while the three principal defendants were also ordered to forfeit their assets, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported. The men were convicted of carrying out operational activities for the Israeli Zionist regime, the United States and hostile groups during the protests, according to state media. Reuters reported that the executions form part of a series of similar actions taken in recent months over the January unrest.
The protests began in December 2025 over rising living costs before rapidly developing into widespread anti-government demonstrations that reached their height on January 8 and 9. Iranian authorities reported more than 3,000 deaths during the events and attributed the violence to terrorist acts directed by the United States and Israel. A BBC News dispatch noted that foreign-based NGOs offered higher casualty estimates and shared accounts from Iranians describing security forces opening fire on unarmed protesters.
Norway-based Iran Human Rights stated that the latest hangings increased the number of men executed in connection with the January protests to at least 39. The rights group warned that many more people remain at risk of execution, a South China Morning Post article indicated. Human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized the associated trials as unfair and based on coerced evidence, although Iranian officials have rejected those assertions.
The pattern of protest-related executions has continued throughout 2026 with the Supreme Court upholding capital sentences in multiple cases. Earlier actions included the hanging of individuals convicted of attacking security forces or restricted sites during the same wave of demonstrations, Reuters noted in prior coverage. Officials have maintained that the measures are necessary to counter foreign-backed sabotage and restore public order.
Damage to infrastructure in Karaj, including the electricity substation, was cited as evidence of the severity of the offenses. The judiciary’s account framed the actions as deliberate efforts to destabilize the region on behalf of external adversaries. International attention has focused on the pace of such rulings amid broader scrutiny of due process in Iran’s handling of protest cases.
