Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown on individuals accused of links to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), imposing lengthy prison sentences, issuing death threats, and expanding the use of capital punishment against political prisoners.
According to information released by the Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), five political prisoners currently held in Hall 37 of Ghezel Hesar Prison are being denied basic amenities while facing increasing judicial pressure. Several of the prisoners had previously been transferred from Fashafouyeh Prison to Ghezel Hesar in April 2026.
Among them are two young relatives accused of PMOI membership. Abolfazl Rahbar, a 23-year-old house painter, and his cousin Omid Rahbar, a 24-year-old laborer, were arrested in January 2026. They were recently informed verbally of prison sentences of 20 and 26 years, respectively.
Two other detainees in the same ward are reportedly facing explicit threats of execution. Vahid Azizi, a 42-year-old civil and groundwater engineer with a PhD, was arrested on January 6, 2026, during the nationwide protests and has since been threatened with the death penalty. Mostafa Imani, a 39-year-old writer and designer from Karaj who holds a master’s degree in art, was arrested on March 29, 2026, on charges related to alleged contact with and membership in the PMOI. Prosecutors have reportedly warned him that he could face execution.
The fifth prisoner, Farshid Dolatyari, a 41-year-old driver, has remained in detention since November 2025. According to the report, he has been subjected to sustained pressure while his legal status remains unresolved. In December 2025, the Ministry of Intelligence-affiliated Mehr News Agency published his photograph without identifying him by name, alleging that he had stockpiled weapons.
The reported cases come amid a broader escalation in the use of executions against political opponents. On July 22, authorities executed Mehdi Khanaki, a 26-year-old law graduate and PMOI member, following months of torture and a trial lacking due process. Khanaki had been arrested in February 2026 after participating in the nationwide protests.
The report states that approximately 2,400 people have been executed over the past year, including ten PMOI members. It also alleges that authorities have refused to return the bodies of some executed prisoners to their families.
The judiciary has also expanded the use of capital punishment against relatives of political dissidents. Amir Hassan Akbari-Monfared, a 22-year-old accounting student, was sentenced to death on charges of “rebellion.” The sentence was linked to his family relationship with a deceased PMOI member. His family had previously lost four relatives during executions in the 1980s.
In another case, PMOI supporter Arghavan Fallahi, 25, was sentenced to death on July 1, 2026, after what the report describes as months of physical and psychological torture.
There have been other cases in Rasht’s Lakan Prison, where several PMOI supporters have received death sentences following brief video hearings conducted without legal representation. Those named include Zahra Tabari, a 68-year-old electrical engineer; Yaghoub Derakhshan, 51, who reportedly underwent a retrial; and Amin Farahavar, a 38-year-old poet who was denied medical treatment for internal bleeding before being sentenced to death on charges of “enmity against God.”
The NCRI has called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Council, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran to intervene. The organization urged international bodies to press for the revocation of the reported death sentences and to dispatch an independent fact-finding mission to inspect prisons including Ghezel Hesar and Evin, citing concerns over the treatment and safety of political prisoners.
