With the escalation of international crises and the deep economic deadlock in Iran—which fosters broader popular protests—the Islamic Republic has accelerated its execution machine to institutionalize repression and terror across society. The regime attempts to guarantee its survival by tightening the noose of suppression around the necks of potential protesters. The indiscriminate issuance of death sentences against detainees serves as the primary tool of the security apparatus to prevent the eruption of public rage.

12 Political Prisoners at Imminent Risk of Execution

The defendants were not only deprived of the right to choose an independent lawyer of their choice during the preliminary stage and were restricted solely to judiciary-appointed lawyers under the Note to Article 48 of the Criminal Procedure Code—which mandates that political defendants can only choose representation from a pre-approved list curated by the Chief of the Judiciary, but these lawyers were also denied access to the full case file and the foundational documents of the charges, stripping the defendants of any possibility for an effective defense. Among these detainees, 12 young men have been sentenced to death.