July 2025 marked a sharp escalation in the Iranian regime’s systematic violations of human rights. A staggering 108 executions were carried out, including two political prisoners and at least one woman. The month was also marred by arbitrary arrests, public hangings, torture of political prisoners, attacks on prison wards, and the forcible exile of long-term political prisoner Saeed Masouri. In addition, the regime intensified pressure on families of dissidents, aiming to silence dissent inside and outside prison walls.
Executions in July
Total executions: 108
Public executions: 3 (in Bukan, Miandoab, and Damghan)
Political prisoners executed: 2 (Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani)
Detailed Breakdown by Date:
Early July (July 1–July 8):
July 1–2: Executions in Ahar and Zanjan
July 7–8: 7 executions across Tabriz, Arak, Zanjan, and Ahvaz
Mid-July (July 9–16):
July 9: 6 executions including Naser Kazemzadeh (26) in Shiraz
July 10: 1 execution in Rasht
July 12: 2 public hangings (Bukan and Miandoab)
July 13–14: 8 more executions across 5 provinces
July 16: 6 prisoners executed in Rasht, Qazvin, and Karaj
Late July (July 19–31):
July 19–20: 9 executions including 3 Baluchi prisoners in Zahedan
July 21–24: At least 20 executions across Yazd, Kerman, Arak, Semnan, and Shiraz
July 27: Execution of PMOI members Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani
11 others executed across Qezel Hesar, Isfahan, Shiraz, Qom, and Khorramabad
July 28–30: 13 more executions including a public hanging in Damghan
Execution of Political Prisoners Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani
In the early hours of Sunday, July 27, 2025, the Iranian regime carried out the execution of two long-time political prisoners, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, both supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The executions were carried out in Qezel Hesar Prison under strict secrecy and heightened security.
Behrouz Ehsani, 70, was a veteran political dissident originally from Urmia, and a political prisoner during the 1980s. He was arrested in Tehran in December 2022 during a wave of crackdowns against PMOI affiliates.
Mehdi Hassani, 48, from Shahr-e-Rey, was arrested in Zanjan in October 2022. Like Ehsani, he had previously been active in dissident circles and was known for his affiliation with the PMOI.
Conditions of Detention and Trial:
Following their arrest, both men were subjected to severe physical and psychological torture in Ward 209 of Evin Prison, operated by the Ministry of Intelligence. Interrogators employed prolonged solitary confinement, beatings, and coercion in an attempt to extract forced confessions.
After months in detention without due process, they were tried in Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by the notorious Judge Iman Afshari, a figure known for issuing politically motivated death sentences. On September 16, 2024, they were both sentenced to death on charges related to alleged “membership in a terrorist group” (PMOI) and “enmity against God” (moharebeh). The verdicts were upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court, and four separate requests for retrial were rejected without transparent legal justification.
In the days leading up to their execution, security forces cut off all contact between the political prisoners in Qezel Hesar and their families. On July 26, prison authorities violently raided Unit 4, forcibly removing Ehsani and Hassani from their ward, placing them in solitary confinement as a prelude to execution.
Following the hangings, prison officials refused to return the bodies to their families, preventing them from holding burial ceremonies or memorials. The victims were secretly buried in an undisclosed location, in a practice widely condemned as an additional layer of psychological torture against grieving relatives.
Despite the inhumane conditions, both prisoners expressed unyielding defiance in the face of death.
Prison Raids and Assaults on Political Prisoners
On Saturday, July 26, 2025, a massive and coordinated assault was launched by Iranian security forces against political prisoners held in Unit 4 of Qezel Hesar Prison, located in Karaj. The operation involved over 100 armed prison guards and intelligence agents, acting on direct orders from Prison Warden Allahkaram Azizi, and his two deputies, Hassan Ghobadi and Esmail Farajnejad.
This brutal raid represents a collective punishment operation, carried out just hours before the execution of political prisoners Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, and the attempted forced transfer of Saeed Masouri, Iran’s longest-serving political prisoner.
In the early morning hours, special forces stormed Unit 4, designated for political prisoners affiliated with the PMOI. Prisoners were violently beaten, dragged across the floor, shackled, and hooded with black cloth bags before being forcibly transferred to solitary confinement cells.
Several inmates suffered visible injuries, and some were denied medical care following the assault.
During the raid, prison guards deliberately destroyed or confiscated the few personal belongings that inmates had in their possession—books, letters, legal documents, and essential personal items. This act was both punitive and meant to psychologically destabilize prisoners.
As of Friday, July 25, all forms of telephone contact and visitation between political prisoners and their families were suspended without explanation. This communication blackout added to the anxiety and isolation experienced by prisoners and prevented families from receiving updates about the fate of their loved ones.
This operation was not isolated but appeared to be a pre-meditated escalation of repression, executed as part of a broader strategy to:
- Prepare the ground for the executions of PMOI supporters Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, who were transferred to solitary confinement that same day.
- Neutralize protest or resistance from fellow inmates in response to the executions and the planned exile of Saeed Masouri, whose forcible transfer had previously been halted by prisoner protests on July 16.
- Dismantle collective resistance inside the prison linked to the ongoing “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign, which had spread to 48 prisons nationwide over the past 77 weeks.
Forcible Exile of Saeed Masouri
On Wednesday, July 16, 2025, political prisoner Saeed Masouri, one of Iran’s longest-serving political detainees, was forcibly and violently removed from his ward in Qezel Hesar Prison by security agents to be exiled to Zahedan Prison, located in Iran’s impoverished and volatile southeast.
Masouri has been imprisoned since January 2000, a staggering 25 years without a single day of furlough, medical leave, or access to independent legal defense. His continued incarceration is emblematic of the systematic and vindictive approach of the Iranian regime toward political prisoners, especially those affiliated with the PMOI.
According to multiple testimonies, Masouri was physically assaulted by prison guards during the attempt to transfer him. He was dragged from his cell by force and beaten in front of other inmates in a clear effort to intimidate and silence not only him but all who resist within the prison system.
The announcement of his transfer came shortly after a new wave of executions and repression targeting PMOI supporters, including the death sentences issued for Farshad Etemadi-Far, Masoud Jamei, and Alireza Mardasi, and just days before the executions of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani.
Masouri’s Public Protest and Message
In a message released on July 17, Masouri denounced the transfer as a “kidnapping under the guise of a transfer”, warning that it echoed preparations for another “silent and unreported massacre like 1988.”
He wrote: “This abduction is not solely about me; it is fundamentally aimed at controlling, isolating, and silencing prisoners… for further repression and insistence on more killings and executions, exactly as happened in 1988.”
He further declared: “As a political prisoner supporting the Mojahedin-e Khalq, especially during the days of Muharram and inspired by the eternal message of Imam Hussein, I want to state clearly: Never shall we retreat even a single step on the path of freedom and dignity because of these prisons, exiles, and executions.”
Harsh Sentences and Imminent Risk of Political Executions
July 2025 witnessed a disturbing surge in the issuance of death sentences against political prisoners, most of whom are affiliated with the PMOI.
Death Sentences Against Three PMOI Supporters
On July 12, the Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz, presided over by Judge Adibimehr, issued double death sentences and one year of additional imprisonment to three political prisoners:
Farshad Etemadi-Far, 30, from Basht, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province
Masoud Jamei, 47, a teacher
Alireza Mardasi (also known as Hamidavi), 52, a teacher of Arab ethnicity
All three men had been held in solitary confinement for nearly two years and subjected to severe physical and psychological torture during interrogations. They were arrested separately between June and August 2023:
Farshad Etemadi-Far was arrested in Pichab Basht on June 16, 2023, along with two others—Saman and Davoud Hormat-Nejad—who were later sentenced to 12 and 15 years of imprisonment respectively in the same case.
Masoud Jamei and Alireza Mardasi were arrested in Ahvaz in August 2023.
The five defendants were convicted on trumped-up charges including: Moharebeh (“enmity against God”), Membership in the PMOI/MEK, Collusion against national security, and Propaganda against the regime
Death Sentence of Yaghoub Derakhshan
On July 24, the regime escalated its crackdown with the death sentence issued against 50-year-old Yaghoub Derakhshan, a PMOI supporter originally from Ardabil and residing in Bandar Anzali.
Derakhshan was arrested in April 2025, having previously been detained in July 2024 and temporarily released after weeks of interrogation.
His latest trial was conducted via videoconference, in the absence of any legal defense, and presided over by Judge Ahmad Darvish-Goftar of the Rasht Revolutionary Court.
He was convicted of “baghi” (armed rebellion)—a charge routinely used against PMOI supporters despite a lack of any evidence of armed activity.
Conclusion:
The human rights situation in Iran deteriorated significantly in July 2025. The regime continues to use mass executions, torture, and intimidation as tools of repression against political dissidents and ordinary citizens. Iran HRM urges the international community, including the UN Human Rights Council, EU, and human rights organizations worldwide, to demand an immediate moratorium on executions in Iran, condemn the execution of political prisoners and arbitrary death sentences, pressure the Iranian regime to release all political prisoners, dispatch an international fact-finding mission to inspect Iran’s prison conditions, and hold regime officials accountable for crimes against humanity, particularly those involved in the 1988 and 2025 executions.
