Key Highlights
- Erfan Soltani, 26, is scheduled to be hanged to death on Wednesday after he was arrested last week during the protests in Karaj, the NGO groups Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFD) said."His family was told that he had been sentenced to death and that the sentence is due to be carried out on 14 January," sources told IHRNGO.
- IHRNGO Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said in a statement that "the widespread killing of civilian protesters in recent days by the Islamic Republic is reminiscent of the regime’s crimes in the 1980s, which have been recognized as crimes against humanity." RAND PAUL SAYS TRUMP'S THREAT TO BOMB IRAN 'IS NOT THE ANSWER': NOT THE 'JOB OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT' Fires are lit as protesters rally on January 8, 2026, in Tehran, Iran.
- () "The risk of mass and extrajudicial executions of protesters is extremely serious," the statement added.
- "Under the Responsibility to Protect, the international community has a duty to protect civilian protesters against mass killings by the Islamic Republic and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
- We call on people and civil society in democratic countries to remind their governments of this responsibility."The NUFD is calling for international support to halt Soltani’s execution, stressing that his "only crime was calling for freedom" for Iran.
