Four Iranians Sentenced to Death for Burning Mosque during January Protests

Illustration of protests in Iran. (Wikimedia Commons/Darafsh)

JAKARTA - Four Iranians accused of involvement in anti-government protests in January have been sentenced to death by a court in Tehran, according to two human rights groups.

A revolutionary court sentenced Ehsan Hosseinipour Hesarloo, Matin Mohammadi, Erfan Amiri and Maryam Hodavand for burning a mosque in January that killed two people, said the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

The charges include participation in protests in the city of Pakdasht outside Tehran and throwing a molotov cocktail at the Seyyed Al Shohada mosque, HRANA said.

Most of the evidence against the defendants is based on "forced confessions obtained through torture" and "reported from security agencies", claims the Oslo-based human rights organization Hengaw.

"The defendants were deprived of their right to access independent lawyers and a fair trial at all stages of the process," said Hengaw, launching The National (28/4).

A fire at the Seyyed Al Shohada mosque in Pakdasht during protests on January 8 left two people dead who were trapped inside the building, reported the Mizan news agency, which is linked to Iran's judiciary.

Three people arrested during Iran's December protests, Ehsan Hosseinipour Hesarloo, Matin Mohammadi and Erfan Amiri, have been sentenced to death by Iranian authorities, and their sentences have been upheld by the Supreme Court.

— Hengaw Organization for Human Rights (@Hengaw_English) April 26, 2026

Hosseinipour Hesarloo, Mohammadi, and Amiri were charged as "main instigators" of the fire.

The ages of the defendants are not known, but media reports say they are in their late teens.

Iran's Supreme Court has upheld death sentences against Hosseinipour Hesarloo, Mohammadi and Amiri. Their cases have been referred to the unit responsible for carrying out the final verdict, a source close to the families of the defendants told HRANA.

Meanwhile, the case of Maryam Hodavand (45, is in the process of appeal at the Supreme Court, said Hengaw.

He is being held in the women's ward of Evin Prison, a Tehran jail used to house many political prisoners, while the locations of the other three defendants are unknown, HRANA added.

The Iranian revolutionary court is a secret court that works in parallel with the general court system.

The funeral of a victim of the protests in Iran. (Wikimedia Commons/Tasnim News Agency/Farza Menati)

Trials in this court could include counter-revolutionary crimes and accusations of religious blasphemy.

International human rights groups have long documented violations in Iran's judicial and prison systems, including sham trials.

The situation of the prisoners worsened during the war with the US and Israel, as security forces had moved some of the detainees to undisclosed locations, according to reports by human rights groups.

The latest sentence was handed down as Iranian authorities continued executions amid a weeks-long war and a fragile ceasefire.

Previously, nine people had been executed so far for crimes committed during the January protests, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization. All of the sentences were carried out since the war began on February 28.

Executions unrelated to the protests have also continued. Ten prisoners affiliated with the banned political group have been executed since March 18, the rights group said on Monday.

January's demonstrations, which began with a strike by shopkeepers over the devaluation of the Iranian rial against the US dollar, expanded to include political demands and became the largest anti-government protest movement in Iran's modern history.

The movement was met with violence by security forces when at least 7,000 people were killed, claim human rights monitors based outside Iran. Conflicting reports put the death toll much higher.