Iran intensified its crackdown on anti-regime protesters Tuesday, publicly hanging two men in the same Isfahan square where they had joined calls for change during demonstrations in January.
Disturbing footage from Shahid Alikhani Square showed crowds shouting in outrage as authorities carried out the executions of Abolfazl Sepahi Badjani and Amir Hossein Safari Hosseinabadi, according to opposition sources.
“Dishonorable, dishonorable!” witnesses could be heard chanting at security forces during the public hangings, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reported.
Badjani and Hosseinabadi had previously stood together in the same square during January protests that spread across Iran, fueled by anger over the regime’s repression and its handling of the country’s deepening economic crisis.
The unrest in Isfahan turned violent on Jan. 8 and 9 after Tehran’s security forces moved to crush the demonstrations. Badjani and Hosseinabadi were among 12 people later accused of killing four security personnel during clashes in Alikhani Square.
Iranian authorities have now executed four of the 12 defendants in the case. The United Nations Human Rights Office has warned that the remaining eight young men convicted in connection with the protests face an imminent risk of execution.
“The young men, aged between late teens and early twenties, were reportedly arbitrarily deprived of their liberty, in some cases being subjected to enforced disappearance, ill-treated and accused of involvement in the killing of four security force members, as well as arson and vandalism during the 8 January 2026 protests in Shahid Alikhani Square in Isfahan,” the UN office wrote.
The NCRI said the 12 defendants were allegedly prevented from selecting their own lawyers, while even court-appointed attorneys were reportedly denied access to the case file.
Like the other protesters convicted by the state, Badjani and Hosseinabadi were made to confess to the charges in a court broadcast, which human rights groups say are made under duress and to instill fear amongst Iran’s dissidents.
The eight remaining prisoners in the Alikhani Square were identified as Alireza Sepahi, 24, Ghaem Hosseini, 20, Shervin Bagherian, 18, Amirhossein Ebrahimi Analucheh, 19, Amirhossein Maleki, 19, Ali Dashti,19, Abolfazl Ebrahimi, 18, and Alireza Raeisi, 21.
Badjani and Hosseinabadi’s executions mark the 25th and 26th hangings of the January protesters, with hundreds of the demonstrators on death row.
The hangings also coincided with the 16th day of the hunger strike at the Ghezel Hesar jail demanding an end to the surge in executions, with Iran hanging 424 people so far this year, according to the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights NGO.
