Iranian authorities have executed two men over their alleged involvement in anti-government protests that peaked in January after initially erupting the previous month over economic hardships.
The judiciary’s Mizan Online website identified the executed men as Ali Hemmati and Majid Nik-Andish, saying they were convicted of participating in what authorities described as “the riots of January” in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
According to the judiciary, the protests resulted in the deaths of four security personnel and caused extensive damage to public property.
The two men were also accused of setting fire to shops, banks and buses, as well as burning trees during the unrest.
Mizan Online reported that Hemmati and Nik-Andish were hanged early Wednesday after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld their death sentences.
The protests began in late December, initially driven by rising living costs, but later expanded into broader demonstrations against the Iranian government. The unrest reached its peak on January 8 and 9.
Iranian authorities put the death toll from the unrest at more than 3,000 and blamed what they described as “terrorist acts” orchestrated by the United States and Israel. Foreign-based non-governmental organisations, however, have maintained that Iranian security forces opened fire on protesters.
At the time, US President Donald Trump threatened possible military intervention in Iran. The United States and Israel subsequently launched a joint attack on Iran on February 28, triggering a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Since then, Iranian authorities have carried out further arrests and executions linked both to the conflict and to the protests earlier in the year.
Iran executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, according to Iran Human Rights and Together Against the Death Penalty, which described the figure as the highest recorded in the country since 1989.
Amnesty International has also identified Iran as the country with the second-highest number of executions globally, after China.