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Iran is reportedly set to execute its first protester in connection with mass arrests over the widespread anti-regime demonstrations, according to human rights groups.
Erfan Soltani, 26, is scheduled to be hanged to death on Wednesday after he was arrested last week during the protests in Karaj, the NGO groups Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFD) said.
“His family was told that he had been sentenced to death and that the sentence is due to be carried out on 14 January,” sources told IHRNGO.
IHRNGO Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said in a statement that “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 recognized as crimes against humanity.”
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Fires are lit as protesters rally on January 8, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. (Getty Images)
“The risk of mass and extrajudicial executions of protesters is extremely serious,” the statement added. “Under the Responsibility to Protect, the international community has a duty to protect civilian protesters against mass killings by the Islamic Republic and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. We call on people and civil society in democratic countries to remind their governments of this responsibility.”
The NUFD is calling for international support to halt Soltani’s execution, stressing that his “only crime was calling for freedom” for Iran.
“Be his voice,” the group wrote on X.
Soltani was allegedly denied access to a lawyer, according to the NUFD.
According to The US Sun, Soltani was charged with “waging war against God,” a crime punishable by death in Iran.
Soltani’s alleged execution has yet to be independently verified amid a communications blackout as the country’s leaders seek to quell the dissent.
More than 10,000 people have reportedly been arrested in recent weeks for participating in the anti-government protests sparked by Iran’s failing economy, according to human rights groups, and many have begun to demand total regime change as the demonstrations continue.
An overturned car is seen on January 8, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. (Getty Images)
Tehran’s crackdown on the demonstrations has also led to more than 500 deaths, human rights groups said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned Tehran that violence against the protesters would be met with a U.S. military response, saying on Friday that they “better not start shooting, because we’ll start shooting, too.”
“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.
The White House confirmed on Monday that Trump was weighing whether to bomb Iran.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that diplomacy remains Trump’s first option, but that the president “has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary.”
“He certainly doesn’t want to see people being killed in the streets of Tehran. And unfortunately that’s something we are seeing right now,” she added.
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A masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
But many congressional lawmakers, including some within the Republican Party, have criticized the president’s threats to bomb Iran, with several arguing that he needs approval from Congress under the Constitution, that the U.S. should not be involved in another foreign affair and that military action could rally Iranian protesters behind the Ayatollah.
“We wish them the best,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on Sunday. “We wish freedom and liberation the best across the world, but I don’t think it’s the job of the American government to be involved with every freedom movement around the world … If you bomb the government, do you then rally people to their flag who are upset with the Ayatollah, but then say, ‘Well, gosh, we can’t have a foreign government invading or bombing our country?’ It tends to have people rally to the cause.”
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“Plus, there is this sticking point of the Constitution that we won’t let presidents bomb countries just when they feel like it,” he added. “They’re supposed to ask the people, through the Congress, for permission.”
Iranian officials have threatened to retaliate against U.S. troops in the region if the Pentagon were to strike, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying that Tehran is “fully prepared for war.”