Fathollah Avari, the 18th Protester from the January Protests, Was Executed; His Forced Confessions Were Broadcasted
June 2, 2026; The state media of the Islamic Republic, including Mizan News Agency, reported the execution of “Fathollah Avari” in connection with the January 2026 protests. These reports did not mention the location where the sentence was carried out. This sentence was executed secretly and without prior notification to the family, and he was deprived of the right to a final meeting with his family. The judiciary, without mentioning any details of the trial process, only published a montaged video of his forced confessions without any date or documentation.
Mizan News Agency claimed that the death sentence of Fathollah Avari was carried out within the framework of “Qisas” (retribution) and in connection with the killing of a law enforcement officer named “Major Mohammad Javad Bakhshian” during the Hamadan protests. Following the news of the execution, this media outlet published a 37-second video showing a scene of a street clash without a specific date and time, in which a number of individuals with covered faces are present. The voice attributed to the forced confessions of Fathollah Avari is montaged over these images, claiming that “he stabbed the stomach of the person who fell on the ground with a knife.”
The image of Fathollah Avari is also displayed for only a few seconds in this video. In the final section, images of a black garment and a knife are shown; images about which Mizan News Agency wrote: “Following the arrest of Fathollah Avari and the inspection of his residence, the murder weapon (knife), the black hoodie stained with blood, as well as the same white sneakers observed in the CCTV footage of the incident scene, were discovered.”
This is while in the images published by Mizan News Agency itself, no scene of physical proximity between the mentioned individual and the victim is visible that could explain the clothing becoming blood-stained. Furthermore, in the final images published as the discovery of the “hoodie and knife”, no trace of blood is observed on the hoodie.
Regarding the trial process of Fathollah Avari, it is unclear what type of lawyer, whether chosen or state-appointed public defender, he had access to, and how the duration of the court sessions and the manner of his and his lawyer's defense were. The rushed process of issuing and executing the sentence within a few months, without mentioning the exact date of arrest, is assessed as a sign of an unfair trial. Mizan News Agency only briefly mentioned the execution of the retribution sentence against him, and while referring to Fathollah Avari as a “rioter”, addressed his arrest and the issuance of the sentence against him.
From the onset of the mass arrest wave on January 8, 2026, in connection with the protests until the latest documented statistics of executions on June 2, 2026, the judicial apparatus of the Islamic Republic has carried out a horrific and extraordinarily accelerated chain of judicial murders; such that within 10 weeks, the Islamic Republic of Iran has executed 18 protesters. A chain of executions of protesters that demonstrates an average of one protester executed approximately every 4.5 days.
A closer look at this execution chain reveals that for the 18 protesters, the interval between arrest and the implementation of the death sentence was a mere 147 days, meaning less than five months. In this short period, the complete cycle of repression—encompassing arrest, interrogation, solitary confinement, trial, and execution—was carried out; a terrifyingly accelerated pace that serves as evidence of the complete elimination of due process and the transformation of the judiciary into a structured political elimination machine.
The names of these executed individuals are: Fathollah Avari, Ashkan Maleki, Mehrdad Mohammadinya, Mohammad Abbasi, Ebrahim Dowlatabadinejad, Mehdi Rasouli, Mohammad Reza Miri, Abbas Akbari Feyzabad, Sasan Azadvar, Erfan Kiani, Amir Ali Mirjaafari, Saleh Mohammadi, Saeed Davoudi, Mehdi Ghasemi, Amir Hossein Hatami, Mohammad Amin Bigleri, Shahin Vahedparast, and Ali Fahim.
