A young Iranian whose ‘only crime is shouting for freedom’ is set to be the first person to be executed in the Islamic Republic’s brutal crackdown on the protests sweeping the country, human rights groups say.
Erfan Soltani, 26, will be allowed only a final ten minutes with his family before he is hanged today for allegedly taking part in an anti-government protest last Thursday.
The clothes shop owner was arrested at his home in Fardis, central Iran, detained in prison and quickly served with the death penalty.
Soltani is one of 10,700 individuals who have been arrested in Iran since protests began on December 28, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists New Agency (HRANA).
Arina Moradi, a member of the Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights who has spoken to Soltani’s family, told the Daily Mail that his loved ones were ‘shocked’ and ‘in despair’ at the ‘unprecedented’ situation.
She said: ‘Their son was never a political activist, just part of the younger generation who was protesting against the current situation in Iran.’
She added that there was ‘no information about him for days’ before authorities eventually called his family to inform them of Soltani’s arrest and imminent execution.
Executions can be public spectacles in Iran, with the young protester likely to be subjected to torture and abuse while detained in prison, says Ms Moradi, who fears the regime will carry out other extrajudicial executions in the coming weeks.
According to the Hengaw organisation, a source close to the Soltani family said authorities informed them about the death sentence just four days after his arrest.
It said: ‘The source added that Erfan Soltani’s sister, who is a licensed lawyer, has attempted to pursue the case through legal channels, but authorities have so far prevented her from accessing the case file.
‘Since his arrest, Erfan Soltani has been deprived of his most basic rights, including access to legal counsel, the right to defence and other fundamental due-process guarantees.’
The organisation called the case a ‘clear violation of international human rights law’, citing its ‘rushed and non-transparent’ nature.
An Iranian official admitted to Reuters that around 2,000 people were killed in protests, blaming ‘terrorists’ for the deaths of civilians and security personnel, while Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights warned of a death toll that is ‘according to some estimates more than 6,000’.
Thursday was one of the largest nationwide demonstrations – marking the 12th night of protests – after rallying calls from Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s deposed shah and a figure of Iran’s opposition in exile.
Witnesses have described how streets have turned into ‘warzones’, as security forces open fire on unarmed protesters with Kalashnikov-style assault rifles.
‘It’s like a warzone, the streets are full of blood,’ an anonymous Iranian told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘They’re taking away bodies in trucks, everyone is frightened tonight. They’re carrying out a massacre here.’
Does this case show the true face of Iran’s regime?
Comment now
Shahin Gobadi, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told the Daily Mail: ‘Ali Khamenei, the regime’s leader, has explicitly labelled the demonstrators as ‘rioters,’ and the regime’s prosecutor-general has declared that rioters are ‘mohareb’- ‘enemies of God’ – a charge punishable by death.
‘The head of the judiciary has also stated that ‘special branches have been established to swiftly review the cases of the insurgents, and judicial officials have been instructed, if necessary, to be present on site, stay informed directly, and examine the matters thoroughly’.
‘This is an order to establish kangaroo courts aimed at killing protesters.’
While Soltani will allegedly be the first victim to be executed since protests began on December 28 last year, the Islamic Republic has been carrying out capital punishment as a means to suppress dissent for years.
The NCRI says more than 2,200 executions were carried out in 2025 in 91 cities, signifying an unprecedented high in Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 36-year rule as Supreme Leader.
The National Union for Democracy in Iran described Soltani as a ‘young freedom-seeker’ whose ‘only crime is shouting for freedom for Iran’.
The arresting authority has not been officially identified.
Iran Human Rights Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, said: ‘The widespread killing of civilian protesters in recent days by the Islamic Republic is reminiscent of the regime’s crimes in the 1980s, which have been recognised as crimes against humanity.
‘We call on people and civil society in democratic countries to remind their governments of this responsibility.’
On Friday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned that the ‘Islamic Republic will not back down’, and ordered his security forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to violently crackdown on dissenters.
It comes after Rubina Aminian, a 23-year-old fashion student, was shot in the head ‘from close range’ during Thursday’s protests, while graphic videos circulating online show dozens of bodies in a morgue on the outskirts of Iran’s capital.
The protests broke out in two major markets in downtown Tehran after the Iranian rial plunged to 1.42million to the US dollar, a new record low, compounding inflationary pressure and pushing up the prices of food and other daily necessities.
This was after the Iranian government had raised prices for nationally subsidised gasoline in early December, with Central Bank head Mohammad Reza Farzin resigning a day later as the protests spread to cities outside of Tehran, where police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrations.
The UN human rights chief said on Tuesday that he was ‘horrified’ by mounting violence by Iran’s security forces against peaceful protesters.
‘This cycle of horrific violence cannot continue. The Iranian people and their demands for fairness, equality and justice must be heard,’ Volker Turk said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday that he was ‘shocked by reports of violence and excessive use of force by the Iranian authorities against protesters resulting in deaths and injuries in recent days’.
