Iran's judiciary has confirmed the public hanging of Abolfazl Sepahi and Amir-Hossein Safari in the city of Isfahan. The two men were executed for their alleged roles in anti-government demonstrations that took place in January.
The Public Hangings in Malekshahr's Alikhani Square
The executions of Abolfazl Sepahi and Amir-Hossein Safari took place in a public square within the city of Malekshahr, located in the central Isfahan province. According to the report, the Iranian judiciary justified the hangings based on charges that the men attacked police officers using knives and machetes on January 8. The state claims the defendants tied officers to road signs and set them on fire using gasoline.
Witnesses and social media footage indicate that the regime transformed Alikhani Square into a site of state violence, utilizing cranes and scaffolding to carry out the killings in full view of the public . This performative approach to justice is designed to serve as a visible deterrent to others who might challenge the authority of the Islamic Republic.
Four Deaths and Eight Pending Sentences in the Alikhani Square Case
The deaths of Sepahi and Safari bring the total number of executions in the so-called "Alikhani Square" case to four. The report notes that two other defendants,Erfan Esfandiari and Golmohammad Mohammadi, were already put to death on July 19. These four men were part of a larger group of 12 young men convicted during a single hearing.
Currently, eight individuals from this group remain under a sentence of death.. Despite mounting international pressure to halt the killings, the Iranian state continues to move forward with these sentences, reflecting a rigid stance against the protest movement that began in late December over the rising cost of living.
Mai Sato's Warning on Coerced Confessions and Closed-Door Trials
UN experts, led by Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, have raised alarms regarding the legality of these convictions. As the report says, the UN experts claim that the judgments relied heavily on confessions broadcast on state television before any actual trial had occurred, which violates the fundamental presumption of innocence.
Furthermore, the Revolutionary Court hearings were conducted behind closed doors, and the final judgments were never released to the public. The UN experts highlighted that the defendants, who range from their late teens to early twenties, were subjected to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances, suggesting that the "Alikhani Square" case lacks any semblance of fair trial standards.
The February 28 Joint Attack and the Surge in State Violence
The current wave of executions cannot be viewed in isolation from the broader geopolitical collapse in the region. Following threats from US President Donald Trump to intervene militarily, a joint attack by the US and Israel was launched against Iran on February 28, an event that triggered the wider Middle East war.
Since that military escalation, the Islamic Republic has intensified its internal security apparatus. the report indicates that arrests and executions have multiplied, as the regime links domestic protests to the external conflict, treating internal dissent as a byproduct of foreign aggression rather than a response to economic hardship.
The Discrepancy Between 3,000 State-Reported Deaths and Rights Group Claims
A critical point of contention remains the actual casualty count of the January protests. Iranian authorities have reported more than 3,000 deaths,which the state attributes to "terrorist acts" orchestrated by Israel and the United States. however, human rights organizations based outside the country maintain a different narrative, asserting that the majority of fatalities resulted from security forces firing directly into crowds of protesters.
This gap in reporting leaves several questions unanswered: the specific identities of the 3,000 deceased remain unverified, and the Iranian government has provided little evidence to support the claim that foreign intelligence agencies directed the street-level violence in Isfahan. Until independent investigators gain access to the sites of the January 8 and 9 clashes, the true nature of the violence remains a matter of state propaganda versus activist testimony.
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