Iranian authorities executed three men from Mashhad. Mehdi Rasouli, Mohammad Reza Miri, and Ebrahim Dolatabadi died early Monday. They had been arrested during protests last January, and the executions drew international attention from human rights groups who wanted more information.
The three men faced charges of working with Israeli intelligence, but they denied any wrongdoing. Authorities also accused them of organizing protest activities. News of their deaths spread quickly online, so many human rights organizations said the legal process lacked transparency.
Rasouli and Miri allegedly killed a security officer named Hamidreza Yousefnejad. Dolatabadi supposedly led protests in the Tabarsi neighborhood. The news hit the victims’ families hard, yet relatives said no one told them the executions would happen.
The protests took place on January 18 and 19 last year. Security forces arrested many people during those days, and the three men sat in custody for more than a year. Their trials reportedly did not have proper legal representation, so the executions drew international attention from legal experts who questioned the proceedings.
Several other detainees have died in recent weeks. Authorities put them to death after the US-Iran ceasefire started. The charges included spying for Israel or belonging to opposition groups. The United Nations asked for investigations, for these executions drew international attention from UN officials who expressed concern.
Iran’s judiciary has not said when the executions happened. News agencies reported the deaths early Tuesday morning, but no one knows the exact timing. Iranian lawyers have doubts about whether the confessions were real, and the lack of clear information worries many people.
The families said their loved ones had nothing to do with foreign intelligence. They believe the men were innocent, yet authorities never showed any public evidence of spying. A lot of people expressed concern when they heard the news, the executions drew international attention across social media and news outlets.
Human rights groups documented all three cases, and they want Iran to stop executing people this way. European governments heard about the news too, Germany and France released statements. Britain also mentioned the lack of court transparency.
Iran’s top judiciary official said collaborators will face punishment. The government sees some protest activity as treason, but a few politicians quietly raised concerns. However, no official investigation has started yet.
The January protests happened when the economy was under pressure, and political tensions made things worse. Security forces responded by arresting many people, yet human rights groups think these executions send a warning to others.
More detainees could face execution soon, for dozens of people are still on death row. The international community keeps watching, human rights advocates want more answers about what happened. The debate over due process remains unresolved.