Death Sentences Issued for Nationwide Protest Detainees Amid Rising Tensions Between Iranian Regime and Israel
18-June-2025
Category: Prisoners
18 June 2025
News category: Prisoners
Breathing in Confinement – On Monday, 16 June 2025, two young protesters, Yasin Kabdani (aged 20) and Mohammad Darvish Narouei (aged 21), were sentenced to death by a branch of the Revolutionary Court in Zahedan on charges of “moharebeh” (enmity against God) and “efsad-e fel-arz” (corruption on earth). Both are among those arrested during the nationwide protests of 2022 and are currently held in Zahedan Prison.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, the verdicts were issued during a session of the Revolutionary Court in Zahedan. In addition, the case of Beniyamin Kouhkan, another protest detainee, was also reviewed during the same session.
Beniyamin Kouhkan was only 16 years old at the time of his arrest on 6 January 2023. He is facing similar charges. Reports indicate that he was subjected to physical and psychological torture during detention and was transferred to the forensic medical office for the assessment of his “mental maturity.” Following the court session, he was placed in quarantine, and no information has since been released regarding the verdict or his current condition.
Both Kabdani and Narouei, residents of Zahedan, were arrested on the same date, 6 January 2023. The issuance of these sentences comes amid rising tensions between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Israel, alongside increasing reports of domestic repression. Breathing in Confinement has expressed deep concern over the growing number of executions, calling the move part of the regime’s repressive policy to instil fear in society, and has demanded the immediate halt of death sentences and executions.