Ali Hemmati Sistani and Majid Nikandish, Detained During January Protests in Mashhad, Executed

Breathing in Confinement, Wednesday, 30 September 2026: The death sentences of Ali Hemmati Sistani and Majid Nikandish, two individuals arrested during the January protests on charges of “moharebeh” (enmity against God), were carried out early this morning. According to published reports, their death sentences had previously been upheld by the Supreme Court.

According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, the judiciary’s media outlet reported that the cases of Ali Hemmati Sistani and Majid Nikandish were reviewed by the Supreme Court after their death sentences were issued, and the rulings were upheld. According to the report, following the completion of judicial proceedings, the two prisoners were executed on Wednesday morning. The judiciary’s report did not specify the exact location of the executions.

Judiciary’s Account of the Tabarsi Protests

According to the account published by the judiciary, on the evening of 8 January, as protests spread across Mashhad, a group of protesters moved from the Pol-e Fajr area towards the Tabarsi district. The report alleges that some protesters were armed and carrying incendiary materials, and that four members of the security forces were killed during the clashes.

The judiciary further claims that law enforcement, security and intelligence forces took control of the area that night, arresting some protesters immediately and others later following reviews of surveillance footage and further investigations.

According to the same account, Ali Hemmati Sistani, son of Hassan, and Majid Nikandish, son of Mohammad Ebrahim, were identified as active participants in the protests in the Tabarsi area. Following their arrests, their cases were referred to the prosecutor’s office and subsequently to the court.

Charges and Allegations Against the Two Prisoners

The judiciary’s report includes statements presented as “confessions” by Ali Hemmati Sistani. According to this account, he stated that during the protests on 8 January, he and Majid Nikandish attacked a chain store and set it on fire using Molotov cocktails.

The report also alleges that Hemmati and Nikandish attacked two members of the Basij with knives during the clashes. The judiciary further quoted Hemmati as saying that, at one point, he stopped a truck carrying soil and emptied its load onto the street to block the passage of vehicles.

Elsewhere in the report, statements are attributed to Majid Nikandish. According to this account, he said that he participated in the protests on 8 and 9 January, carried a knife and three bottles containing incendiary materials, participated in an attack on a store, filmed the protests, and sent the footage to a telephone number outside Iran.

The judiciary’s report also alleges that, during interrogation and judicial proceedings, Nikandish admitted to assaulting an individual who was lying on the ground and to setting fire to a bank.

According to the official account, following investigations and court hearings attended by the defendants and their lawyers, and on the basis of statements and evidence contained in the case files, Ali Hemmati Sistani and Majid Nikandish were sentenced to death. Their sentences were subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court.

Allegations of Torture and Forced Confessions

In contrast, human rights sources have provided a different account of the arrests and judicial proceedings involving the two protesters. According to published reports, Majid Nikandish, a 25-year-old resident of Quchan, was arrested in connection with the January protests in Mashhad and sentenced to death on a charge of “moharebeh” by Branch 1 of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Gholamreza Akbari. These sources have also reported that “forced confessions” were obtained from him while in detention.

Human rights sources have additionally raised concerns about the judicial proceedings and the conditions in which the two prisoners were held. They allege that Ali Hemmati Sistani and Majid Nikandish were subjected to pressure and torture during detention, including “mock executions,” in an effort to force them to make statements sought by interrogators.

As these allegations have been made by human rights sources, while the judiciary has presented a different account of the interrogations, confessions and judicial proceedings, the circumstances in which the confessions were obtained and the extent to which the defendants’ rights were fully respected during detention and trial require independent and transparent investigation.