Iranian authorities executed Sasan Azadvar, 21, a karate champion from Isfahan, at Dastgerd Prison at dawn on 30 April 20261. Dastgerd Prison is the central detention facility serving Iran's third-largest city. Azadvar had been detained during the 9 January 2026 protests and convicted of attacking State Security Force personnel and inciting riots. His lawyer said no credible evidence supported the charges; Hengaw, the Norway-based Kurdish human rights organisation that documented the case, recorded confessions extracted under torture.
Azadvar is the tenth protester from the December 2025 and January 2026 protests to be executed during wartime, an emerging sub-category within the wider execution register Hengaw had documented through 29-30 April. His profile as a karate champion distinguishes him from prior cases. The torture pattern is consistent with the documented record in earlier wartime executions including those of Erfan Kiani and Jafar Fakhrabadi, which Hengaw cited as part of its broader corroboration framework.
Hengaw has flagged the next 7 days as the operational watch window. The three Pakdasht mosque-fire defendants, Shahab Zahdi, Abolfazl Salehi Siavoshani and Yaser Rajaeifar, remain on death row after the Supreme Court upheld their sentences on 27 April. The Azadvar pattern, dawn execution following Supreme Court confirmation, sets the timeline against which their cases will now be read.
