In comparison, for the entire year 2024, 993 executions were recorded. Already in 2025, the number of executions had doubled to reach 2,167 hangings (CSDHI). Consequently, the year 2026 could be the worst since 1988, when 30,000 political prisoners were executed in Iran in a few months (figures from the Iranian opposition, Editor’s note). All these executions are not political but are used for political purposes.
What is new is the scale of the executions of political opponents. Since the start of the Iranian year, on March 19, at least 40 people have been executed for political reasons (La Nouvelle Tribune).
Since the start of the year, the authorities have increased their declarations in favor of toughening repression. Mullah Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei (the head of the judiciary, editor’s note) insisted before the magistrates on the need for a “vitesse extrême” for prosecutions against “foot soldiers and accomplices of the aggressor enemy”. “We will certainly not show any negligence or leniency in the prosecution and punishment” he said. “You must accelerate the issuance of sentences of execution and confiscation of property.” (Iran Human rights monitor)
What do your contacts say about the regime’s objectives in this wave of repression: is it a response to persistent social protest? How is it linked to the regional context?
It is obvious that these recent executions serve to terrorize all of society, to try to stifle popular movements. But they hide a reality that often escapes in these cases of extreme cruelty: the power in place feels extremely fragile and in danger, and accelerates this process. We even feel a certain panic. The power in place knows that it is facing a society that is profoundly exhausted economically, but still politically revolted and driven by a deep aspiration for freedom and fundamental rights.
Among the recently hanged prisoners, eight belonged to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (opposition party, editor’s note), three to Kurdish groups, two to Baloch groups, while eighteen were demonstrators who participated in the popular uprisings of January. Three generations are among these hangings, from teenagers to 70-year-old men, but most are very young. The regime demonstrates that what it fears most is a form of organized resistance in the country. Today, the main threat to the survival of the regime remains the Iranian people and this internal resistance that we should begin to take into consideration, in France or elsewhere. The regime absolutely wants to delay the next uprising, which could be fatal.
The mullahs’ regime, by its very nature, uses regional and international crises as a pretext to strengthen internal repression. But the regime’s announcements on one side, and resistance actions on the other, are multiplying throughout the country without any link with the war or foreign conflict. The Iranian people did not wait for a war or foreign intervention to resist this regime. The end of the regional conflict will not put an end to this main battle either, between the people and their executioners, however cruel they may be.
At the start of the war in Iran, some observers seemed to think that the end of the mullahs’ regime was near. What are the dominant opinions and hopes among the population today?
The end of the regime is certainly near because the Iranian people no longer want to support a regime that massacres its population, the environment, the economy and the wealth of the country, but not because of the war with the United States. On this point, some observers were seriously mistaken. This illusion was notably nourished by those nostalgic for the past dictatorship (that of the Shah of Iran, last monarch of the Pahlavi dynasty, Editor’s note), very disconnected from the internal reality of Iran.
Today, after more than a hundred days of war, neither military escalation nor permanent negotiations with the regime have brought freedom to citizens. A large part of the population now understands that change will have to come first and foremost from the Iranian people themselves. This is the path defended by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). Even if a ceasefire is signed with the United States, it will not save the regime. A deal will not be sustainable as long as this regime is in place.
But this change cannot be based solely on spontaneous explosions of popular anger. It will also require an organized, structured and established resistance on the ground, capable of coordinating mobilizations and confronting the repressive apparatus of the regime.
Despite the repression, forms of resistance continue to exist in Iranian society. Who are the main actors in this mobilization today? Does this involve Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah?
Several forces opposed to the religious dictatorship play an important role today, notably the resistance units linked to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, but also different components of Iranian society, including Kurdish, Baluch, students, women, workers, teachers and many young people involved in popular uprisings. For years, these forces have kept the protest alive despite arrests, torture and executions. Their common objective remains the establishment of a free, democratic Iran free of any form of dictatorship, whether religious or monarchical.
The uprising was certainly temporarily stifled by the barbarity of the mullahs and the revolutionary guards, but the causes of these successive uprisings which have shaken the country since 2017 have not been ruled out. Inflation, unemployment, corruption of power, social and political pressures, repression and injustice are reaching extraordinary levels. The people have understood that they can only count on themselves to overthrow the regime.
Reza Pahlavi was never part of a credible solution for Iran. At the start of the war, some abroad linked to the old monarchy and the son of the deposed Shah, nostalgic for the past who no longer have an anchor in Iran, tried to make believe that a foreign intervention or a military escalation could constitute a solution to rid Iran of theocratic regime of the mullahs. But this has never been an option for the Iranians.
The aspirations of Iranians are summed up in the establishment of a pluralist and secular republic respectful of religious and ethnic minorities. The slogan “Neither Shah, nor mullahs” also summarizes an important reality: the majority of the Iranian population refuses both the current religious dictatorship and the return to the old monarchical system.
Are there emblematic figures leading the Iranian resistance?
The resistance led in Iran is manifested in particular by that of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. I would like to name a few names to show the state of mind of the Iranian people.
Vahid Bani-Amerian, 33-year-old political prisoner, electrical engineer and member of the MEK resistance units, executed in April 2026. To his judges who asked him for his last defense, he responded: “Is it me who must defend myself or you? It is you who will have to answer for your crimes before the Iranian people. I am not defending my life; I am defending my oppressed people. For the freedom of Iran, I would not bargain for my life with you.”
Another symbol of this youth who resists: Ali Younessi, brilliant student at Sharif University in Tehran and gold medalist at the International Astronomy Olympiad. Arrested in 2020 for belonging to the PMOI, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He and his fellow detainee, Amir Hossein Moradi, recently refused a pardon offered by the regime to protest the executions of political prisoners.
But the resistance is above all alive through the resilience of women.
The case of Zahra Tabari is an illustration of this: aged 68, an engineer graduated in Sweden, she was arrested in Rasht in April 2025. She refused to comply and her death sentence has just been confirmed after she had notably written the words on a cloth: “Femme, Résistance, Liberté”.
We also cite, obviously, Maryam Rajavi, the elected president of the NCRI. She is an emblematic figure, like that of General de Gaulle in France under occupation. She announced the formation of a provisional transitional government and her road map is a transition that will last no more than six months after the overthrow of the regime, so that free elections allow the transfer of power to the sovereignty of the Iranian people.
What concrete measures should France, the European Union and international organizations take now to support respect for human rights in Iran?
For years, the Iranian Resistance has defended a third way: neither foreign war, nor policy of appeasement with the regime. External military interventions have always resulted in aggravating the suffering of civilian populations and allowing authoritarian regimes to reinforce their internal repression in the name of national security. The diplomatic appeasement pursued for decades has also failed. It allowed the regime to continue executions, repression and its regional policy without real consequences.
Faced with this situation, the international community can no longer be satisfied with symbolic declarations. France, the European Union and international organizations must act concretely.
Today, France, the European Union and international organizations must adopt concrete and immediate measures: make all diplomatic or economic relations conditional on respect for human rights, demand a halt to executions and the release of political prisoners, support the opening of Iranian prisons to international investigative mechanisms, include those responsible for executions and repression on targeted sanctions lists, and publicly recognize the right of the Iranian people to resist the dictatorship and its repressive force who are the guardians of the revolution. It is also essential to support free access to the Internet and means of communication to prevent the regime from isolating the population during popular uprisings.
The step must finally be taken and recognized, on a diplomatic level, the Iranian Resistance.
What is at stake in the mobilization which will be held in Paris on Saturday June 20? Which political actors will be present?
The mobilization of June 20 in Paris addresses precisely this issue: breaking the silence on the executions of the cream of Iranian society in prisons, making the voice of the Iranian people heard and reminding that there is a democratic alternative to both religious dictatorship and the return of monarchical authoritarianism. To prevent the executions and repression in Iran from falling into international indifference.
It will be an opportunity to raise the voice of political prisoners, the families of the victims and all those who refuse to give up their freedom.
This event is also part of historical memory. June 20, 1981 marked the start of a massive repression against political opponents in Iran after a peaceful demonstration was bloodily repressed. This date marks the beginning of organized resistance to this theocracy (CNRI)
Hundreds of associations and human rights defenders from all over Europe will participate in this mobilization. More than 100,000 demonstrators are expected in Paris to say no to executions, no to religious dictatorship and no to the return of an authoritarian monarchical regime. 78 Nobel Prize winners and 24 Olympic champions who denounced these executions supported this gathering.
Political figures, elected officials, jurists, association leaders as well as representatives of the Iranian Resistance will also be present to denounce the executions, defend human rights and support the right of the Iranian people to freely choose their future. Around a hundred parliamentarians, political figures and international human rights defenders will also be present at this event. The message is simple: the Iranian people must be able to freely and democratically choose their future.
At a time when international crises are saturating the world’s attention, it is essential to remember that in Iran, behind geopolitical tensions, there is above all a people fighting for human rights, for their dignity, their freedom and their democracy.
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