Iranian authorities carried out the death sentences of Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh on November 8, according to state-linked reporting and independent monitors. The judiciary said the country's Supreme Court upheld the verdicts. The alleged offenses and the fairness of the trials remain distinct issues: the state's account describes acts of violence and foreign involvement, while rights organizations report unanswered questions about the evidence and due process.

Three executions announced on Sunday

Iran executed Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh on Sunday, November 8, after death sentences connected to unrest during the January protests, according to the Iranian judiciary and reporting by Reuters. The judiciary said the Supreme Court had upheld the verdicts. The executions themselves were confirmed by accounts from state-linked media and rights monitors, but those accounts differ in how much detail they provide about where and how the sentences were carried out. The official announcement did not supply a full public account of the trial evidence.

The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported that the men were put to death at dawn inside Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, a city west of Tehran. Hengaw said the executions had been conducted without public advance notice; it also observed that the judiciary-affiliated Mizan outlet did not identify the prison. That distinction matters: Ghezel Hesar is the location reported by a rights group, rather than a location independently confirmed through a prison document or an official statement available with the announcement. Other monitors confirmed the deaths without independently establishing the precise site.

Sources: Iran executes three men over armed unrest during January protests · Three Men Hanged in Iran over Armed Involvement in January Unrest · Iran executes three January protest detainees in Karaj · January Protests: Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zanganeh Executed

What the Iranian judiciary alleged

Iranian judicial authorities accused the three men of participating in operations for Israel, the United States and groups they described as hostile to Iran. As reported by the state-linked Tasnim news agency, prosecutors alleged that a group operating during the January 8 and 9 unrest used improvised incendiary devices and explosives, attacked public facilities and damaged electrical infrastructure in Karaj. These are allegations advanced by the authorities and reflected in the convictions. The reporting reviewed for this article does not independently establish that the defendants worked for foreign governments or committed each alleged act.

The judiciary identified Divband as the organizer of a group drawn, it alleged, from relatives and employees at his automotive repair business. It accused Kazemi of making Molotov cocktails and homemade grenades and Zanganeh of involvement in damage to an electricity substation. Reuters also reported the official allegation that firearms had been used and that damage to the substation caused local power outages. None of those descriptions should be mistaken for firsthand verification of the acts, the identities of perpetrators or any claimed connection to foreign intelligence services.

Sources: Iran executes three men over armed unrest during January protests · Three Men Hanged in Iran over Armed Involvement in January Unrest · January Protests: Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zanganeh Executed · Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh Hanged; At Least 39 January Protesters Executed

Eleven defendants and the court outcome

According to the judiciary account carried by Tasnim and independently summarized by Reuters, eleven people were prosecuted in the case. Three received death sentences and orders affecting their property, while the remaining eight were sentenced to prison terms of five to ten years. Tasnim said the confiscation of the three executed men's assets was still under way. That is narrower than saying every listed asset had already been seized. The Supreme Court's approval of the death sentences is reported as an official procedural decision, not an independent assessment that the proceedings were fair.

The timeline available publicly is incomplete. Reuters, citing the judiciary, said Divband was arrested on January 11 and that ten other suspects were later detained in the investigation. Hengaw reported that Zanganeh, a 27-year-old vehicle technician, was arrested in April, rather than during the January demonstrations themselves. That difference illustrates why arrest dates must not be collapsed into one shared chronology. Human-rights monitors have identified the Karaj Revolutionary Court as the trial venue, but the underlying judgment and the complete record of the defense have not been independently examined for this report.

Sources: Iran executes three men over armed unrest during January protests · Three Men Hanged in Iran over Armed Involvement in January Unrest · Iran executes three January protest detainees in Karaj · January Protests: Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zanganeh Executed · Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh Hanged; At Least 39 January Protesters Executed

Questions about access to a fair trial

The Human Rights Activists News Agency, HRANA, said the publicly available official account did not explain whether the defendants could choose legal counsel, how hearings were conducted or what safeguards applied during the proceedings. That absence of detail is not proof of a particular violation in this case; it does mean readers cannot independently evaluate the evidentiary basis of the death sentences from the announcement alone. Iran Human Rights also challenged aspects of the authorities' description of the electrical-infrastructure allegation, citing information from a source familiar with Zanganeh's case. Its account has not been adjudicated publicly.

Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center documented a broader pattern in a September investigation of protest-related capital cases, including summary hearings, alleged torture-tainted confessions and convictions under expansive security offenses. Their review concerned other defendants and periods, not an independent trial audit of these three men. Amnesty International warned in October that protest-related defendants remained at risk of execution after unfair proceedings. Those findings raise serious questions about safeguards in comparable cases, but they do not establish what happened inside every hearing or interrogation involving Divband, Kazemi and Zanganeh.

Sources: January Protests: Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zanganeh Executed · Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh Hanged; At Least 39 January Protesters Executed · Iran: Ongoing Unlawful Execution Campaign Against Protesters · Iran: Risk of Imminent Protest-Related Executions after Unfair Trials

A movement followed by death sentences

The case arose from the broad protest wave that began in late December 2025 and spread in January 2026. Reporting by Reuters and human-rights organizations connects subsequent arrests and capital prosecutions to the authorities' response to those demonstrations. The three men were not sentenced merely for attending a protest, according to the state account; the judiciary alleged armed activity and damage to public property. Whether those allegations were proved through reliable evidence, and whether a death sentence met legal safeguards, are separate questions that the available official summary cannot settle.

The scale of the wider execution campaign is also contested. Hengaw reported its own cumulative figures for political and protest-related executions, while Iran Human Rights published a separately compiled minimum count of protesters executed since March. The organizations use their own documented case lists, so their totals should not be blended into one national figure without checking definitions and time windows. Both organizations regard the November 8 deaths as part of the broader crackdown. Their figures are attributed assessments, not an official, independently audited national registry.

Sources: Iran executes three men over armed unrest during January protests · Iran executes three January protest detainees in Karaj · Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh Hanged; At Least 39 January Protesters Executed · Iran: Ongoing Unlawful Execution Campaign Against Protesters · Iran: Risk of Imminent Protest-Related Executions after Unfair Trials

What remains unconfirmed after the hangings

Several essential questions remain unanswered in the material released publicly on November 8. A verified copy of the complete judgment, an account of the defense lawyers' participation, independently examinable evidence behind the foreign-government allegations, and official confirmation of the execution site have not been established in the sources reviewed here. Reports from Hengaw and Iran Human Rights provide additional information about detention and the conduct alleged in the case, but they are not substitutes for accessible court records. They should be read alongside, rather than merged into, the state narrative.

The immediate confirmed development is irreversible: the three death sentences have been carried out, following Supreme Court approval as described by Iranian authorities. The broader dispute concerns the state's assertions about the defendants' actions and whether capital proceedings met fair-trial standards. Reuters records the authorities' position; Tasnim details their accusations; Hengaw, HRANA and other rights monitors describe gaps and objections. For readers trying to follow this case, separating those evidentiary categories is essential. A judicial announcement confirms that the state acted, but it cannot by itself resolve every allegation surrounding the prosecutions.

Sources: Iran executes three men over armed unrest during January protests · Three Men Hanged in Iran over Armed Involvement in January Unrest · Iran executes three January protest detainees in Karaj · January Protests: Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zanganeh Executed · Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh Hanged; At Least 39 January Protesters Executed · Iran: Ongoing Unlawful Execution Campaign Against Protesters · Iran: Risk of Imminent Protest-Related Executions after Unfair Trials