Hengaw

Hengaw is the primary independent casualty monitor for the 2026 Iran conflict. Through the 25-27 May cluster (Day 86-88), Hengaw documented five further executions: Saman Ebrahimi and Ali Shahbazi at Kermanshah, Amirabbas Shokri at Rasht, Abdolghader Rasouli (a Kurdish prisoner) at Mahabad on 26 May, and Majid Shirzadi at Hamedan on 27 May. On 26 May, Hengaw confirmed the execution of Gholamreza Khani Shakarab, a Turkish national, on spying-for-Israel charges, the third foreign national executed since 20 May; NATO member Turkey issued no public protest. This followed the execution of two Iraqi nationals on 20 May (the first foreign nationals executed in the conflict) and the secret execution of two Kurdish PDKI prisoners at Naqadeh on 21 May. The Amnesty International register passed 200 executions for 2026 in mid-May, against 2,159 in all of 2025. On 23 May, Hengaw reported the execution of ESMA Zarei at Ardabil Prison after giving birth in custody; Hengaw is the sole source on this case, and no Iranian state acknowledgement has appeared. Hengaw also documented the fastest wartime capital case on record: Mojtaba Kian was arrested in March 2026 and executed 24 May, under 50 days from arrest to gallows.

In the 28-30 May window, Hengaw documented IRGC forces shooting dead Kurdish activist brothers Meysam and Mojtaba Veisi near Dalahu and Faezeh Afshari, 30, at Semirom: extrajudicial field killings that leave no court record. Judicial executions at Sanandaj, Bukan, and Marvdasht were logged across the same three days. On 1 June 2026, Hengaw documented the dawn hangings of Ashkan Maleki and Mehrdad Mohammadinia at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, both on moharebeh charges arising from January 2026 protest arrests; families were denied final visits and bodies were withheld. Hengaw's reporting has continued through June 2026 without interruption; the enforcement pace has not paused for either the Doha diplomatic track or the June Islamabad MOU.

Hengaw is a Norway-based Kurdish human rights organisation founded in 2016. It tracks killings, arrests, and rights conditions in Iran's five Kurdish-majority provinces (Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam, West Azerbaijan, Lorestan) and has expanded its wartime reporting to cover executions across the whole country. Hengaw's casualty counts consistently run three to four times higher than Iranian government figures, following the same verification gap it documented during the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests. Iran's internet blackout, over 1,500 cumulative hours in the conflict, has not stopped Hengaw: it operates through diaspora networks and encrypted channels that provide information even during full blackout periods. Its reports are the primary source for international media, UN Special Rapporteurs, and rights organisations documenting wartime executions.