Moharebeh

moharebeh (Arabic/Persian: محاربه, 'enmity against God' or 'waging war against God') is a capital charge in the Iranian Islamic Penal Code applied to those accused of taking up arms against the Islamic State. Conviction carries a mandatory death penalty, with no judicial discretion on sentence once the charge is upheld by the Supreme Court. The charge has deep roots in classical Islamic jurisprudence, where it originally addressed highway robbery and armed brigandry; its expansion in the Islamic Republic's penal framework extended it to any act construed as threatening the state's divine legitimacy. Under Article 279 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code, the charge applies when the accused has engaged in armed confrontation — but prosecutors and courts have interpreted this broadly to include participating in armed protests, membership of banned political organisations, or association with armed opposition groups.

During the 2026 Iran war, moharebeh charges have accelerated sharply across political prosecutions. Rights monitors document cases where charges were brought against January 2026 anti-war protesters with little or no evidence of violent acts. Erfan Kiani was executed on 25 April 2026 after arrest during Isfahan protests in late 2025 on moharebeh, incitement, and insecurity charges — under 50 days from arrest to execution. Sasan Azadvar, a 21-year-old karate champion from Isfahan, was executed on 30 April 2026 at Dastgerd Prison. Abbas Akbari Feyzabadi was executed on 25 May 2026 in Isfahan province on moharebeh charges for January-uprising activity, becoming the fifteenth protester put to death since the war began.

Amnesty International placed Iran's total 2026 execution count above 200 by mid-May, against 2,159 in 2025. Hengaw and other monitors argue the wartime emergency is being used to accelerate political prosecutions — clearing a backlog of detainees held since the 2019, 2022, and 2025-26 protest waves. The Naqadeh executions of 21 May — two Kurdish PDKI members on related armed-rebellion charges — demonstrate how the execution pipeline now extends across multiple charge frameworks simultaneously.