Iran executed three men on Sunday morning, November 8, 2026, after convicting them over their roles in the January protests in Karaj, a city west of Tehran. The men were Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zanganeh.
Iranian authorities said the three were arrested during protests on January 8 and 9, 2026, and later convicted by the Karaj Revolutionary Court of taking part in operational activities on behalf of Israel, the United States, and hostile groups against national security and national interests. The Supreme Court upheld the death sentences, and the judiciary announced the executions on Sunday. Rights groups have raised serious concerns, noting that the evidence cited by officials has not been independently verified.
| Detail | Fact |
|---|---|
| Date of executions | Sunday morning, November 8, 2026 |
| Men executed | Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zanganeh |
| Place of arrest | Karaj, a city west of Tehran |
| Date of arrest | During protests on January 8 and 9, 2026 |
| Court | Karaj Revolutionary Court |
| Sentence | Death, upheld by the Supreme Court |
| Total defendants in the case | 11 |
| Other defendants | Eight people received prison terms of five to 10 years |
| Property | Ordered confiscated |
| Rights groups raising concerns | HRANA, Hengaw, Human Rights Watch, and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center |
Table of Contents
Iran Executed Three Men on November 8: What Happened
Iranian authorities carried out the executions on Sunday morning, November 8, 2026, and the judiciary announced them the same day. The announcement confirmed that the three men had been put to death after the Supreme Court upheld their sentences. It brought a case that began with street protests in January to a severe and final end for the three men and their families.
The protests began in December 2025 over worsening economic conditions and the rising cost of living. By early January they had reached many cities, including Karaj, where the three men were arrested on January 8 and 9, 2026. Their case then moved through the Revolutionary Court system, which handles national security cases.
The judiciary said the men were convicted under a law on intensifying punishment for espionage and cooperation with Israel and hostile countries, and the court ordered their property confiscated. Officials said the men used Molotov cocktails, grenades, firearms and bladed weapons and set fire to public facilities in Karaj. For background on recent events around Iran, see Trump Decides on Iran War and Resuming Strikes.
Who Were the Three Men
The three men were Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zanganeh. Each was given a different role in the case by the authorities. Little is publicly known about their lives before the protests, and most detail comes from the court account and from rights groups that followed the case.
The judiciary said Divband played a leading role in coordinating the activities linked to the case. Officials said he was arrested on January 11, a few days after the protests in Karaj on January 8 and 9. The court account presented him as the person who helped organize the actions that the other defendants were accused of carrying out. No independent account of his actions has been published.
Kazemi was accused of manufacturing Molotov cocktails and homemade grenades. The judiciary account linked him to the production of the weapons that officials said were used during the unrest in Karaj. Zanganeh was accused of participating in the destruction of electrical infrastructure and causing power outages in parts of Karaj. Rights group Hengaw described Zanganeh as a 27 year old mechanic who had recently married.
The case involved 11 defendants in total, and eight others received prison terms of five to 10 years. The difference shows how the court treated the roles it assigned to each defendant, with the three executed men facing the most serious charges and the harshest outcome.
The Charges and the Court Case
The charges were brought under a law on intensifying punishment for espionage and cooperation with Israel and hostile countries. The Karaj Revolutionary Court convicted the three men of participating in operational activities on behalf of Israel, the United States, and hostile groups against national security and national interests. The Supreme Court later upheld the death sentences, which cleared the way for the executions.
According to the judiciary platform Mizan Online, the defendants used Molotov cocktails, grenades, firearms and bladed weapons and set fire to public facilities in Karaj. Divband was described as playing a leading role in coordinating the activities and was arrested on January 11. Kazemi was accused of manufacturing Molotov cocktails and homemade grenades. Zanganeh was accused of damaging electrical infrastructure and causing power outages in parts of Karaj.
The charges should be read with care. They are what Iranian authorities alleged and what the courts decided, not established fact tested by independent observers. The evidence cited by officials included confessions, surveillance footage and intelligence reports, and none of it has been independently verified. That gap is central to the concerns raised by rights groups, because the case ended in executions and the verdict cannot be revisited.
HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists in Iran, noted that the published report gives no information about the defendants having access to lawyers of their choosing, how the court hearings were conducted, or details of the judicial proceedings. Fair trial standards depend on access to a lawyer of choice, open hearings, and a clear record of how evidence was tested. When those details are missing, outside observers cannot judge whether the trial met those standards.
What Rights Groups Say
Rights groups have followed the case closely. HRANA reported the executions and noted gaps in the published account of the trial, including no information about the defendants having access to lawyers of their choosing, how the court hearings were conducted, or details of the judicial proceedings. For a case that ended in death sentences, those gaps are serious.
Hengaw, a rights group that monitors cases in Iran, described Zanganeh as a 27 year old mechanic who had recently married. That description has been repeated in coverage of the case because it gives readers a sense of who Zanganeh was outside the courtroom. The personal detail reminds readers that the case involved real people with families and daily lives.
Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center have warned about the wider use of the expanded espionage law. They said the law is being used to sentence protesters to death without evidence of actual espionage or cooperation with a foreign government. Their concern is that the law gives courts a broad tool to treat protest activity as espionage, even when the public record does not show a link to a foreign government.
The executions come amid growing concern over the increasing use of capital punishment in Iran, particularly in national security and espionage cases linked to the protests. Many observers argue that the death penalty should not be used in cases where the evidence has not been independently verified and where the trial process is not clear from the public record.
The Wider Crackdown and the January Protests
The executions are part of a broader crackdown on people arrested in connection with the January protests. Those protests began in December 2025 over worsening economic conditions and the rising cost of living. Prices were rising, daily life was becoming harder for many families, and public frustration grew. The protests spread across the country and reached cities like Karaj, where the three men were arrested.
The crackdown that followed has involved arrests, trials, and prison terms for many people. In the Karaj case alone, 11 defendants were tried together, with three receiving death sentences and eight receiving prison terms of five to 10 years. Other protest linked cases are still moving through the courts, and the Karaj executions show how severe the outcomes can be.
The wider picture also includes rising regional tension. The charges in the Karaj case linked the defendants to Israel and the United States, which places a domestic protest case inside a much larger story about relations between Iran and other countries. Readers who want more background on recent military developments can read Task Force Iron Gate and Iran Land Forces Near the Caspian and Trump Confirms US Strikes on Qeshm Island Air Defence.
The January protests were driven by economic pain, a point often lost when a case turns into a national security trial. People were struggling with the cost of living, not reacting to a single political event, and that helps explain why the protests spread so widely. The executions on November 8 are a reminder of how high the stakes have become for people arrested during the protests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who were the three men executed in Iran on November 8, 2026?
The three men were Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zanganeh, arrested during the January 8 and 9, 2026 protests in Karaj, a city west of Tehran. The Karaj Revolutionary Court convicted them of taking part in operational activities on behalf of Israel, the United States, and hostile groups against national security and national interests, and the Supreme Court upheld the death sentences.
What were the three men accused of doing during the January protests?
The judiciary said the defendants used Molotov cocktails, grenades, firearms and bladed weapons during the unrest and set fire to public facilities in Karaj. Divband was described as playing a leading role in coordinating the activities and was arrested on January 11. Kazemi was accused of manufacturing Molotov cocktails and homemade grenades. Zanganeh was accused of participating in the destruction of electrical infrastructure and causing power outages in parts of Karaj.
Why have rights groups raised concerns about the case?
The evidence cited by officials, including confessions, surveillance footage and intelligence reports, has not been independently verified. HRANA noted that the published report gives no information about the defendants having access to lawyers of their choosing, how the hearings were conducted, or details of the proceedings. Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center warned that the expanded espionage law is being used to sentence protesters to death without evidence of actual espionage or cooperation with a foreign government.
What happened to the other defendants in the case?
The case involved 11 defendants in total. Eight other defendants received prison terms of five to 10 years. The property of the three executed men was ordered confiscated. The executions are part of a broader crackdown on people arrested in connection with the January protests, which began in December 2025 over worsening economic conditions and the rising cost of living.
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Final Thoughts
The execution of Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zanganeh on November 8, 2026, is a serious and somber development. Three men arrested during protests over the cost of living were convicted in a Revolutionary Court, had their death sentences upheld, and were put to death while rights groups raised unanswered questions about the evidence and the trial. The case deserves to be reported with care, with the charges presented as the authorities stated them and the concerns of rights groups given full weight.
