Iran has carried out the execution of 18-year-old musician Amirhossein Hatami by hanging in the notorious Ghezel Hesar prison. Despite hopes he would be spared due to his age, Hatami was executed on Wednesday. He was arrested on January 8 and accused of committing arson against a Basij paramilitary base in Tehran during anti-regime protests. Held in solitary confinement for weeks, he was subjected to interrogation and paraded on national television before being convicted of 'Moharebeh', or 'Enmity Against God', on February 6. The Iranian judiciary's Mizan Online website claimed Hatami acted 'against national security' on behalf of Israel and the United States by attempting to seize weapons from a military center.

Amnesty International expressed profound outrage, labeling the execution arbitrary and the trial 'grossly unfair', noting that he was sentenced to death less than a month after his arrest. Concerns are now intensifying for numerous other individuals on death row. Reports indicate that Mohammad Amin Biglari, 19, Ali Fahim, 23, Abolfazl Salehi Siavashani, 51, and Shahin Vahedparast Kolor, 30, have been moved to pre-execution solitary confinement in the same prison.

Exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi condemned the actions, stating that the 'bloodthirsty regime' was preparing for more unforgivable crimes and that its 'sham courts' aimed to terrorize Iran into silence. The execution of Amirhossein Hatami follows the recent hangings of four political prisoners earlier this week, who were convicted on charges of rebellion for membership in the banned People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), whose sentences were upheld by the supreme court. Additionally, Iranian wrestler Saleh Mohammadi, 19, was killed alongside Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davvodi last week.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, Director of Iran Human Rights NGO, emphasized that Hatami's execution, based on forced confessions and a grossly unfair trial, along with the killings of three protesters and four political prisoners in just two weeks, signifies the regime's intensified 'war against the Iranian people'. He warned that hundreds more could face imminent execution in the coming days and weeks. Mohammad Mohaddessin, NCRI's Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, stated that these executions were not only the taking of lives but also a message from the regime to 'exert control' amidst external conflict and fear of another domestic uprising. He cautioned that the world was witnessing a 'prelude to a massacre of political prisoners', drawing parallels to the 1988 mass executions of 30,000 political prisoners.

The NCRI's warnings came after the hangings of political prisoners Pouya Ghobadi and Babak Alipour on Tuesday, following the deaths of Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi and Ali Akbar Daneshvarkar on Monday. All four were members of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) and had been sentenced to death over two years prior. According to Iran Human Rights, their executions were carried out in secret, without prior notification to their families. Babak Alipour, a 34-year-old law graduate, had been jailed in 2018 and 2021, suffering from untreated intestinal infection and prostate disease. Pouya Ghobadi, 32, an electrical engineer, had five family members jailed and executed in the 1980s and was repeatedly detained. Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi, 60, and Ali Akbar Daneshvarkar, also 60, were engineers held in Evin prison and prosecuted on charges including PMOI membership and 'assembly and collusion against national security'.

These executions have surged amid Iran's conflict with Israel and the United States, as the Islamic Republic seeks to demonstrate its strength. Recently, at least 145 people are confirmed to have been killed, with an additional 400-plus executions reported but not yet verified, according to Iran Human Rights. Mohaddessin urged the international community, including the UN, US, and human rights defenders, to condemn these executions and uphold their obligation, stressing that the regime's principal enemy is the Iranian people and their Resistance, and that it cannot escape its inevitable overthrow by attempting to mask deep internal crises with external war.