Death Sentence Issued for Pouria Hosseinifard, Detained During January Protests in Mashhad

Breathing in Confinement, Thursday, 20 August 2026: Pouria Hosseinifard, who was detained during the January protests in Mashhad, has been sentenced to death by Branch Five of the city’s Revolutionary Court.

According to reporters from Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, Pouria Hosseinifard, 23, was sentenced to death by Branch Five of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Hossein Yazdankhah, with Seyed Reza Javad Mousavi serving as an advisory judge. The sentence, which was communicated to him approximately one month ago, was issued despite the acts attributed to him during the protests reportedly including breaking the glass of a bus shelter and setting fire to boxwood shrubs.

According to published information, Hosseinifard faced charges including “acting against national security,” “assembly and collusion,” and “operational acts disrupting the security of the country.” His case also alleges that the acts attributed to him were carried out in support of a group opposed to the government.

Published reports indicate that evidence cited in his case included allegations that he broke the glass of a bus shelter and set fire to boxwood shrubs while attending a protest. These alleged acts were presented in the judicial proceedings within the framework of political and security-related charges and ultimately resulted in the issuance of a death sentence.

Pouria Hosseinifard was arrested on 14 January amid protests in Mashhad. Following the completion of his interrogations, he was transferred to Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, where he has remained ever since.

The death sentence against this 23-year-old citizen was issued on the basis of a broad range of security-related charges. Conduct attributed to him during the protests, including damage to public property, was cited during the judicial proceedings as part of the evidence supporting those charges.

Breathing in Confinement has previously reported on the issuance of severe sentences against people detained during the January protests. The use of the death penalty in cases involving protesters and the treatment of protest-related allegations as national security cases have raised widespread concerns regarding due process and the proportionality of the punishment to the alleged offences.