* UPDATE: Abolhassan Montazer and Vahid Bani Amerian were executed in Ghezel Hesar Prison on 4 April 2026.

The British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF) strongly condemns the execution of four members of Iran’s pro-democracy opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), in Ghezel Hesar Prison on 30 and 31 March 2026.

Akbar (Shahrokh) Daneshvarkar, Mohammad Taghavi, Babak Alipour and Pouya Ghobadi were sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran in 2024 following a trial that Amnesty International described as grossly unfair. They were also subjected to torture and denied last farewells as authorities did not provide advance notice of their executions to their families or lawyers.

Two other men sentenced to death in the same case, Abolhassan Montazer and Vahid Bani Amerian,* remain at risk of imminent execution. Iran’s judiciary accused all six men of “armed rebellion against the state” (baghi), citing alleged affiliation with the PMOI as the basis for the charges.

These executions constitute extrajudicial state killings and raise grave concern about a possible wave of mass executions in Iranian prisons, reminiscent of the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners. The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran has warned of increased targeting of those affiliated with the PMOI in its latest report to the UN Human Rights Council.

We highlighted these cases in a statement on 10 August 2025. As then, we stress that the Iranian judiciary is being used to pursue politically motivated charges and executions aimed at eliminating organised opposition amid growing popular dissent. These intimidation tactics continue today even during wartime and serve to instil fear across society and deter future popular uprising.

The BCFIF reiterates its previous call on the UK Government and EU to end the culture of impunity enjoyed by the regime officials by securing international accountability mechanism, as recommended by UN human rights experts.

We urge the UK Government to not only condemn these executions but also act to hold the regime to account to save lives of political prisoners and prevent another massacre in Iranian prisons. The UK must call for a special session at the UN Human Rights Council to that end with the aim of establishing a country-specific tribunal for Iran.

We also urge on the UK Government to work with allies and partners at international level to press the regime to release all political prisoners, detained protesters in recent uprisings and dual citizens given the wartime conditions.

In a video message recorded before his execution and now published on social media, Mohammad Taghavi urged Iranians and the international community to support Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and her ten-point plan for a democratic republic and popular sovereignty in Iran.

The British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF) has proudly stood with these brave political prisoners for many years by advocating and endorsing Maryam Rajavi's ten-point plan and Provisional Government to transfer sovereignty to the Iranian people and to establish a democratic republic.

British Committee for Iran Freedom

31 March 2026