Common Questions

Who was Mehrab Abdollahzadeh and why was he executed?: He was a 27-year-old Kurdish barber from Orumiyeh arrested during the 2022 Woman Life Freedom protests. Iran executed him on 3 May 2026 for allegedly killing a Basij member, a charge he denied and said was obtained under torture.Source: Hengaw, 3 May 2026
How many Woman Life Freedom protesters has Iran executed during the 2026 war?: Hengaw recorded 22 political executions in six weeks by early May 2026, with Abdollahzadeh among the most recent; the broader wartime total including non-WLF cases is higher.Source: Hengaw, Iran Human Rights
What happened to protest detainees from Iran's 2022 uprising?: Many remain imprisoned; at least 22 have been executed in the six weeks since March 2026, disproportionately from Kurdish and Baluch communities. Abdollahzadeh is the latest confirmed case.Source: Hengaw, Iran Human Rights
Where was Mehrab Abdollahzadeh executed?: At Urmia Central Prison in West Azerbaijan province, Iran, on the morning of Sunday 3 May 2026. His family and lawyers received no prior notification.Source: Hengaw, 3 May 2026
Why was Mehrab Abdollahzadeh denied a retrial?: Iranian courts declined to grant a retrial despite his retraction of the confession, which he said was made under torture. No official explanation was given for the denial. The case was monitored by Hengaw and Kurdish human rights networks.Source: Hengaw, 3 May 2026

Background

Mehrab Abdollahzadeh, 27, was a Kurdish barber from Orumiyeh in Iran's West Azerbaijan province. He was arrested on 22 October 2022 during the Woman Life Freedom uprising that followed Mahsa Amini's death, and was subsequently convicted by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh of killing a Basij member — a charge he consistently denied, stating that his confession had been obtained under torture, including threats to arrest his girlfriend and family members. His application for a retrial was denied.

Iranian authorities hanged Abdollahzadeh at Urmia Central Prison on the morning of Sunday 3 May 2026, without prior notification to his family or legal representatives. The execution was confirmed by Hengaw, the Norway-based Kurdish human rights organisation that serves as the principal independent monitor of Iranian executions.

His case illustrates the dual track running through Iran's war years: conventional military operations in the Strait of Hormuz alongside accelerating use of the death penalty against detainees from the 2022 protest wave. By May 2026, Hengaw had recorded 22 political executions in six weeks. Abdollahzadeh is the most recent named victim of a wartime crackdown that has disproportionately targeted Kurdish and Baluch minorities.

How the World Sees Them

Iran (official)

Iranian state media did not report the execution; the judiciary confirmed the verdict was carried out. The conviction rested on a court-accepted confession the defendant retracted, citing torture.

Kurdish human rights groups

Hengaw and KHRN document the case as a political execution: a protest-era arrest, a coerced confession, and a denied retrial. Abdollahzadeh's execution advances what monitors call a pattern of executing ethnic minorities under cover of wartime emergency.