Inside Iran's Wartime Purge: Dozens Executed, Thousands Jailed as the Islamic Republic Turns Inward

On April 30, 2026, Iranian authorities executed Sasan Azadvar, a 21-year-old karate champion detained during the December 2025 protests. His conviction rested primarily on confessions that his lawyers say were extracted under severe physical and psychological torture [1]. He was one of at least 21 people put to death on national security charges since late February, part of a crackdown that has also swept more than 4,000 people into detention [2].

The executions and mass arrests are unfolding against the backdrop of the ongoing military conflict between Iran and the U.S.-Israeli coalition — a war the Islamic Republic has used to justify extraordinary measures against what it calls internal enemies. But human rights organizations, UN officials, and independent analysts say the state's targets are overwhelmingly protesters, journalists, ethnic minorities, and political dissidents with no demonstrable connection to foreign military operations.

The Scale: Executions Accelerating Year Over Year

Iran's use of the death penalty has been on a steep upward trajectory for years. In 2020, rights groups documented 267 executions. By 2022, following the Mahsa Amini protest movement, that figure had risen to 582 — a 75% increase over the previous year [3]. The numbers continued climbing: 853 in 2023, 975 in 2024, and at least 1,639 in 2025, according to a joint report by international NGOs — the highest annual total since 1989 and an average of roughly four executions per day [4].

Source: Amnesty International / Iran Human Rights

Data as of Apr 13, 2026CSV

The 2026 wartime crackdown has added a new dimension. Between March 19 and April 30, Iran HRM documented 19 politically motivated executions — approximately one every two days. Thirteen of these took place at Qezel Hesar Prison, with others carried out in Isfahan, Zahedan, and a public execution in Qom [1]. Those executed include nine people linked to the January 2026 protests, ten for alleged membership in opposition groups, and two on espionage charges [2].

Source: OHCHR / Iran HRM

Data as of May 1, 2026CSV

Among the executed were individuals whose cases had been specifically raised by Amnesty International and the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, including Vahid Bani-Amerian, Pouya Ghobadi, and Abolhassan Montazer [1]. Amirhossein Hatami, an 18-year-old protester, was executed on April 2 on charges related to January demonstrations; Amnesty International called his trial "grossly unfair" [5].

Who Is Being Arrested — and Where

The more than 4,000 arrests since late February represent only the most recent wave. Since the protests erupted in late December 2025, Iranian authorities have detained an estimated 21,000 people total, according to the Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights [6]. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has reported over 50,000 arrests connected to the January 2026 protests alone, though these figures cannot be independently verified due to the internet blackout [5].

Demographic data compiled by human rights groups reveals a pattern of disproportionate targeting of ethnic and religious minorities. Kurds, who represent between 8% and 17% of Iran's population, accounted for 14% of state executions and 47% of detainees in 2025, according to the New Lines Institute [7]. The Baloch community, comprising roughly 2% of the population, saw 142 of its members executed in 2025 and 256 detained, including 18 children [7]. Azerbaijani Turks faced around 2,000 arrests on collaboration charges after the war began, while 54 Ahwazi Arabs were arrested on espionage charges in a single sweep [7].

The geographic concentration of arrests maps closely onto Iran's minority-heavy border regions: the Kurdish provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and Ilam in the northwest; Sistan and Balochistan along the Pakistani border; and Khuzestan in the southwest, home to the Ahwazi Arab population [7]. The regime has expanded military checkpoints and security deployments throughout these areas, treating borderlands as zones of presumed disloyalty.

Beyond ethnic minorities, the crackdown has targeted journalists, artists, and reformist political figures. In February, authorities widened the net to arrest reformist politicians and intellectuals who had previously operated within the system's boundaries [8]. In March, 500 people were arrested for sending information to what authorities described as "enemy and anti-Iranian media" [5].

The Legal Machinery: Revolutionary Courts Under Wartime Rules

The judicial apparatus driving the crackdown centers on Iran's Revolutionary Courts, which handle cases classified as threats to national security. Under normal circumstances, these courts already operate with minimal due process protections — defendants frequently face closed hearings, limited or no access to legal counsel, and reliance on coerced confessions [9].

Wartime conditions have accelerated these proceedings further. Judiciary head Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei has emphasized "rapid prosecution" of security cases, and Attorney General Mohammad Movahedi Azad announced that more than 7,000 public reports had been filed against individuals described as "linked to foreign entities," with orders for expedited review [1].

In October 2025, Iran passed a new law making espionage automatically punishable by death and asset confiscation [7]. This legal change has provided the statutory basis for an expansion of capital charges against individuals previously subject to lesser penalties. The charge of "collaboration with the enemy" — moharebeh in Iranian law — has been applied broadly to encompass protest activity, social media posts, and contact with foreign journalists [9].

Compared to the legal frameworks used during the 2019 and 2022–23 crackdowns, the current system is distinguished by its speed and its explicit wartime framing. During the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests, the first protest-related execution — that of Mohsen Shekari — came roughly three months after his arrest [3]. In the current crackdown, some defendants have been sentenced and executed within weeks of their detention [1].

Tehran's Stated Rationale — and Its Credibility

The Iranian government frames the crackdown as a wartime necessity. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has acknowledged that "thousands of people" were killed during the protests but attributed the violence to external manipulation, calling those leading the unrest "affiliated with the United States and Israel" [10]. IRGC intelligence chief Majid Khademi claimed that "foreign agents" had instructed protesters to shoot each other to inflate the death count and increase the likelihood of American military intervention [10].

Judicial authorities have repeatedly stated they will adopt "extreme measures" against those who "collaborate with the enemy" — language that has been applied to protesters, human rights defenders, and even athletes and artists living abroad [2]. More than 400 Iranian journalists and artists outside the country have had their domestic assets seized under a judiciary statement labeling them supporters of "hostile foreign actors" [5]. In total, assets belonging to some 675 citizens, including 400 living abroad, have been confiscated [2].

No independent analysts or allied governments have publicly endorsed Iran's characterization of the protests as foreign-directed. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stated that fundamental protections "must be respected absolutely, at all times," including during armed conflict, and called for an immediate halt to executions [2]. The New Lines Institute analysis concluded that "the Iranian regime regards its vast minority population as both disposable and a danger to the regime's survival" — a framing driven by internal political calculations rather than verifiable security threats [7].

International Response: Condemnations Without Consequences?

The international response has followed a pattern familiar from previous Iranian crackdowns: strong statements paired with limited enforcement mechanisms.

In January 2026, the UN Human Rights Council voted 25 in favor of a censure resolution calling on Iran to stop protest-related arrests and prevent extrajudicial killings. France, Japan, and South Korea were among those voting in favor [11]. The Council also extended the mandates of its Fact-Finding Mission and Special Rapporteur on Iran and called for an investigation into human rights violations connected to the December 2025 protests [11].

On January 29, 2026, the European Union designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization and adopted new sanctions targeting individuals responsible for human rights violations [12]. A European Parliament conference on April 22 titled "Iran: Take Action to Stop Executions — Where Does the EU Stand?" highlighted continued concern about execution rates but also exposed disagreements about what additional measures should follow [13].

The track record of international pressure on Iran's execution practices is not encouraging. Amnesty International documented a nearly unbroken upward trend in executions from 2020 through 2025, a period during which UN resolutions and EU sanctions were repeatedly adopted [3][4]. Iranian authorities have shown no indication that diplomatic pressure has altered their calculus.

The Internet Blackout: Concealing and Controlling

Since January 8, 2026, Iranian authorities have maintained a near-total internet shutdown — now exceeding 60 consecutive days and ranking as one of the longest nationwide internet disruptions recorded in any country [14]. Human Rights Watch has warned that the blackout is being used to conceal atrocities and prevent documentation from reaching international bodies [15].

The shutdown has crippled civil society's ability to organize, report, and communicate. Journalists in exile report losing contact with entire networks inside the country [16]. The economic damage compounds the human rights toll: remote work has been eliminated, e-commerce has collapsed, and the technology sector — one of Iran's few growth industries — has seen an exodus of skilled workers [16].

Iranian authorities have begun restoring limited, tiered internet access, but restrictions remain in place for most users [17]. Analysts at Chatham House have warned that even when connectivity returns, it will likely be "slowly degraded, with more restrictions, slower access, shutdowns and, most importantly, increased uncertainty — itself a powerful tool of repression" [16].

Economic Devastation Compounds the Crackdown

The crackdown is taking place against a backdrop of severe economic distress. Iran's inflation rate, already chronically elevated, hit 48.6% in October 2025 before settling to 42.2% in December [18]. The rial has continued losing value, and food prices have risen sharply.

Source: World Bank Open Data

Data as of Dec 31, 2024CSV

The war has compounded these pressures. More than 23,000 factories and firms have been damaged by airstrikes, costing an estimated one million jobs directly, according to Iran's Deputy Minister of Work and Social Security [19]. The disruption to shipping and imports has placed 50% of Iranian jobs at risk and pushed an additional 5% of the population into poverty [19]. Two million jobs have vanished since the conflict began [20].

For families whose breadwinners have been executed, imprisoned, or lost employment, the situation is dire. Layoffs have hit women especially hard, as many employers assume men are more likely to be primary earners [19]. Mass layoffs, shortages of medicine, food insecurity, and inability to pay rent are widespread [18].

The Chilling Effect: Is the Crackdown Working?

Measuring whether repression is "succeeding" in suppressing dissent is inherently difficult, particularly under an information blackout. Several indicators suggest the regime has achieved tactical suppression at significant cost.

Protest frequency has declined since January, though this may reflect the internet shutdown and military operations as much as deterrence. The coordinated hunger strike launched on April 28 across at least 56 prisons suggests that resistance continues inside the detention system even as public demonstrations have diminished [1].

Emigration pressure has intensified. Technology workers report that the internet shutdown has eliminated their livelihoods, accelerating plans to leave [16]. The forced deportation of roughly one million Afghan refugees by June 2025 removed another population the regime viewed as potentially destabilizing [7].

The seizure of assets belonging to diaspora Iranians — actors, athletes, executives, and journalists — represents a form of transnational repression aimed at discouraging criticism from abroad [2]. Whether this silences or radicalizes exile communities remains an open question.

Historical Parallels: Does Mass Repression Produce Stability?

Scholars of authoritarian governance have long debated whether mass repression during wartime strengthens or weakens regimes over the long term. Research published in World Politics suggests that autocracies forged through violent social revolution — a category that includes the Islamic Republic — tend to develop cohesive ruling parties and powerful security apparatuses, which can account for "revolutionary regimes' unusual longevity" [21].

However, a 2019 study by Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman found that authoritarian regimes have over time become less reliant on mass violence to maintain control, instead turning to information manipulation [22]. Iran's current approach — combining mass executions with an internet blackout — represents a reversion to older, more brutal methods, which may signal weakness rather than strength.

The historical record from Iran's own past offers mixed lessons. The Islamic Republic survived the 1988 mass executions of political prisoners and the brutal suppression of the 2019 protests. But the cumulative effect of repeated crackdowns — each larger than the last — has eroded the social contract. With annual executions rising sixfold in five years, inflation above 40%, and millions of jobs destroyed, the regime's current strategy appears to be one of survival through fear rather than legitimacy.

What Remains Unknown

Several critical questions remain unanswered due to the internet blackout and restrictions on independent reporting. The true number of deaths during the January 2026 protests is disputed: HRANA estimates over 7,000, including at least 6,488 protesters, while the Iranian government has acknowledged a figure of roughly 3,117 [5]. Neither figure can be independently verified. The conditions and legal status of the thousands in detention are largely opaque. And the full scope of executions may exceed documented figures, as Amnesty International has consistently noted that its tallies represent minimum counts [4].

What is clear is that the Islamic Republic has chosen a path of maximum coercion at a moment of maximum vulnerability — waging war abroad while conducting a purge at home. Whether that combination produces regime consolidation or accelerates its undoing will be determined by forces largely invisible behind Iran's digital wall.