Erfan Kiani

Erfan Kiani was executed in the early hours of 25 April 2026, becoming the eighth political prisoner executed since the start of the Iran war, according to the Kurdish human rights group Hengaw. Kiani was arrested during anti-war protests in Isfahan in late December 2025 and January 2026 and charged with moharebeh ('waging war against God'), creating insecurity, and inciting violent acts — charges routinely applied to protesters and dissidents. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence; Iranian authorities did not disclose the execution location.

Kiani's execution follows a pattern of accelerated judicial processing under wartime conditions. The charges were laid within weeks of his arrest, and the Supreme Court's confirmation came before a full defence could be mounted, according to rights groups. The Isfahan protests from which he was arrested were part of a broader movement against the war and its economic consequences. Hengaw had flagged three further imminent executions — the Ali Fahim co-defendants — on 24 April, the day before Kiani was hanged.

Human rights organisations have documented eight wartime political prisoner executions in Iran by 25 April 2026. The moharebeh charge carries a mandatory death penalty under Iranian law and is deployed as a counterinsurgency mechanism during periods of civil unrest. Iran's domestic security apparatus has run on its own cadence through every break in the diplomatic track since the war began, executing political prisoners while diplomatic channels opened and closed.