Iran woke up on Monday and hanged two more men. While diplomats in Pakistan scramble to broker peace in a war that has already killed thousands, while American troops pour into the Middle East, while Iranian cities shake from airstrikes the Islamic Republic found time to execute two political prisoners it had been holding since 2024. The hangings of Akbar Daneshvarkar and Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi add two more names to what human rights groups are already calling the most dangerous execution campaign in nearly four decades of Iranian history.
Who Were The Two Men Executed
Iran's judiciary said on Monday that two men were executed following accusations of carrying out multiple attacks in Tehran. The judiciary said Akbar Daneshvarkar and Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi had conducted several attacks in the capital and explosive launchers were found in safe houses used by them. The two political prisoners had been sentenced to death in 2024 by Tehran's Revolutionary Court. Authorities accused the two of having links with the exiled opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK). [Sahara Reporters](https://saharareporters.com/2026/03/28/anti-graft-icpc-frees-ex-governor-el-rufai-after-weeks-detention-attend-mothers-burial?claude-citation-99a72357-ea2e-43ea-9d1f-42aa609826c0=4765e06b-baa4-4b01-963c-9c8c630ece98)
The MEK known in Persian as Mujahedin-e Khalq is one of Iran's most controversial and longest-standing opposition groups. It was founded in the 1960s as a leftist-Islamic movement that opposed the Shah, carried out bombings against American targets in the 1970s, and then broke dramatically with Ayatollah Khomeini after the 1979 revolution. Iran classifies it as a terrorist organisation and considers membership in it a capital offence. The group maintains a government-in-exile under leader Maryam Rajavi and is recognised as a legitimate political opposition by many Western governments, the United States Congress and the European Parliament.
Whether Daneshvarkar and Sangdehi genuinely carried out the attacks Iran accused them of, or whether the charges were fabricated or exaggerated to justify execution as human rights groups allege has been standard practice in Iran's post-protest crackdown cannot be independently verified. What is clear is that both men had been held since 2024, were convicted by a Revolutionary Court without what international observers would recognise as a fair trial, and were hanged Monday morning.
The Pattern Iran's Execution Machine In 2026
Monday's executions did not happen in isolation. They are part of a terrifying wave of state killings that has been building in Iran since the nationwide protests of December 2025 and January 2026 protests that the regime met with one of the bloodiest crackdowns in its history.
Dozens of other protesters arrested in January have been handed death sentences by the regime and remain at risk of similar executions, among them children and teenagers. In addition, tens of thousands of detainees from January, and hundreds of individuals arrested during the current war, are at grave risk of fast-tracked trials that could result in more death sentences. [Premium Times](https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/867402-icpc-faces-rebuke-for-releasing-el-rufai-against-court-order.html?claude-citation-99a72357-ea2e-43ea-9d1f-42aa609826c0=22e249b8-e62d-4d85-96b3-358873f695ec)
February 2026 alone saw at least 307 individuals executed across 31 provinces and 65 cities, including five women. This figure represents more than four times the total recorded in the same period the previous year nearly 8.5 times the equivalent period in 2024, and about seven times the equivalent period in 2023. [France 24](https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20260328-war-in-the-middle-east-live-conflict-enters-second-month-us-expects-to-end-it-within-two-weeks?claude-citation-99a72357-ea2e-43ea-9d1f-42aa609826c0=cb76ae56-e939-4675-a7b4-65cbd0c43ace)
The scale of executions in Iran in 2026 is staggering. Iran is the world's most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups. Last year it hanged at least 1,500 people, according to figures from Iran Human Rights. [The ICIR](https://www.icirnigeria.org/el-rufais-release-for-mothers-burial-sparks-legal-debate/?claude-citation-99a72357-ea2e-43ea-9d1f-42aa609826c0=734180db-5e46-4209-8f45-c37240daa0aa) That figure is already being eclipsed in 2026 as the regime executes at an accelerating pace.
The context War and Repression Together
What makes Monday's executions particularly chilling is the context in which they are happening. Iran is simultaneously fighting a war against the United States and Israel that has already killed over 1,900 people inside Iran. Its cities are being struck by airstrikes. Its internet has been blacked out for over 30 days. Its citizens are protesting from rooftops every night despite threats of violent crackdown.
And in the middle of all of that — the regime is still hanging people.
Rights groups accuse security forces of killing thousands in their crackdown on the protests, which authorities blamed on the US and Israel. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has recorded more than 7,000 killings, with the vast majority protesters, while warning the toll could be far higher. [The ICIR](https://www.icirnigeria.org/el-rufais-release-for-mothers-burial-sparks-legal-debate/?claude-citation-99a72357-ea2e-43ea-9d1f-42aa609826c0=116ea356-058d-4940-a7d7-52f56df97961)
Iran's internal security services are believed to still be functioning despite the war, and have threatened to treat any further protesters as "enemies." "All our forces are also ready, with their hands on the trigger, prepared to defend their revolution," national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said in comments aired by state broadcaster IRIB. [Naija247news](https://naija247news.com/el-rufai-granted-temporary-bail-by-icpc-to-attend-mothers-funeral/?claude-citation-99a72357-ea2e-43ea-9d1f-42aa609826c0=b1652e9d-4d0e-4792-9eac-3eb2c1d83792)
Human rights experts describe what is happening as a deliberate strategy using the cover of war to accelerate the elimination of political opponents, protesters and anyone connected to banned opposition groups, under the assumption that the international community will be too focused on the military conflict to pay attention to the executions.
Who Is The MEK And Why Iran Kills Its Members
To understand why being accused of MEK membership can get you killed in Iran, you need to understand the organisation's history and the visceral hatred that Iran's clerical establishment has for it.
The MEK was once one of the most popular opposition groups in Iran, with tens of thousands of supporters. After the revolution, it clashed violently with Khomeini's government and was driven out of Iran. It eventually relocated to Iraq, where it received support from Saddam Hussein a decision that permanently destroyed its reputation inside Iran, as many Iranians could never forgive the group for siding with the enemy during the devastating 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War.
The MEK has been responsible for armed operations against the Iranian government over the decades and Iran has consistently blamed it for bombings, assassinations and sabotage operations inside the country. The group was removed from the US terrorism list in 2012 and is now headquartered in Albania under the leadership of Maryam Rajavi, who has positioned the NCRI as Iran's government-in-exile.
For the Islamic Republic, any connection to the MEK real or alleged is treated as a capital offence. Iran has used MEK membership accusations to justify the execution of hundreds of people over the decades. Human rights groups consistently argue that these accusations are routinely fabricated or massively exaggerated, and that confessions are extracted under torture.
The International Community's Response
The international response to Iran's execution wave has been muted drowned out by the much louder story of the US-Israel military campaign against Iran's nuclear facilities. The United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution condemning Iran's attacks on Gulf states but has said little about the domestic execution campaign.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran has called on the UN and governments worldwide to demand that the Islamic Republic's authorities immediately halt all executions of any detained protesters or political prisoners. [Premium Times](https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/867402-icpc-faces-rebuke-for-releasing-el-rufai-against-court-order.html?claude-citation-99a72357-ea2e-43ea-9d1f-42aa609826c0=62405abf-ac19-4015-969d-f6802a4a4a78)
Trump, who had earlier warned Iran against executing protesters, has largely shifted his focus to the nuclear and military dimensions of the conflict. European governments already struggling with the economic consequences of the war have issued diplomatic statements but taken no concrete action to pressure Iran on executions.
Human rights organisations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Iran Human Rights have all raised alarm. But alarms, in 2026 Iran, are not stopping the hangings.
What This Means For The Wider Conflict
Monday's executions have a significance beyond the immediate tragedy of two more lives ended. They signal that the Islamic Republic whatever pressure it faces externally from American and Israeli airstrikes remains determined to ruthlessly eliminate internal opposition simultaneously.
This dual strategy — fighting the external war while crushing internal dissent reflects the regime's calculation that its survival depends on maintaining absolute internal control even as it takes military hits from outside. Every execution is a message to the millions of Iranians protesting from rooftops and planning further resistance: this is what happens to people who actively resist.
Whether that calculation will ultimately hold depends on how long the regime can maintain its security apparatus under the strain of a war it is clearly losing militarily. Human rights groups and opposition figures believe the execution campaign, far from deterring resistance, is accelerating the collapse of the regime's legitimacy in the eyes of its own people.
Naija Take
Make we be direct. Iran dey fight America and Israel from outside. And at the same time, dem dey hang people inside. Two men Akbar Daneshvarkar and Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi don die this morning by the same government wey dey tell the world say e dey defend itself from aggression.
The world dey focus on the missiles and the airstrikes. But inside Iran, thousands of people wey just wanted change — wey came out to protest in January — dey face execution. Some of dem na children. The hanging no go stop until something bigger changes in Tehran. Watch this space.
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Sources: Iran International, Reuters, Times of Israel, Euronews, Center for Human Rights in Iran, Iran Human Rights