Three men were executed by hanging in Iran on Thursday after they were convicted of killing two police officers during anti-government protests in January, according to the Iranian authorities.

One of the men, Saleh Mohammadi, was a decorated 19-year-old wrestler, according to human rights groups. The groups raised concerns about his execution, pointing to a fast-tracked trial and a forced confession.

The Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s security forces, said that the men had been tried and executed in the city of Qom. It identified them as Mohammadi, Mehdi Ghasemi, and Saeed Davoudi. The men were also convicted of “moharebeh”, or waging war against God, a charge that is punishable by death and that Iranian authorities often use against dissidents.

The news agency said that the men had confessed to the crimes, that the executions came after “legal procedures” and that the men had defence attorneys.

Iranian authorities regularly extract forced confessions from defendants through pressure tactics including solitary confinement, threats against family members and torture, according to human rights groups.

Iran executed more than 2,000 people in 2025, the most in a year since 1989, according to the Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre for Human Rights in Iran, a Washington-based organisation.

The centre said that Mohammadi was from Qom and was arrested on January 15. He was sentenced to death in early February, according to the centre and Amnesty International.

Human Rights Watch said last month that Iranian authorities had launched a “tsunami” of arbitrary arrests and subjected detainees to torture during and after mass anti-government protests earlier this year.

Amnesty International said last month that Mohammadi had told the court in Qom that he confessed to the crime “under torture and other ill-treatment”.

“His public hanging does not advance accountability or justice,” the Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre said on social media on Thursday. “Instead, it amounts to cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment designed to instill terror.”

New York Times News Service