ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iran on Sunday executed a man accused of assisting the United States and Israel during nationwide protests in January, the judiciary announced, with the Islamic republic seeing a spike in executions. 

Majid Adineh, “one of the agents of the American-Zionist coup and was affiliated with terrorist groups residing in a neighboring country … was executed,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online said. 

He was further accused of being in possession of a pistol, two tasers, two tear gas canisters, and a chainsaw, and participated in the massive countrywide protests from the city of Karaj, on the outskirts of the capital Tehran. 

“Adineh was executed on charges of operational action in favor of hostile groups and the Zionist regime and America’s war,” the judiciary asserted. 

Iran has a long history of broadcasting alleged confessions from detainees that are widely believed to have been obtained through threats, psychological pressure, and, in some cases, physical torture.

Earlier in August, a joint statement by 26 countries and the EU’s top diplomat urged Iran to “immediately end” its use of the death penalty and called on the Islamic republic to provide rights to free expression. 

According to Amnesty International’s 2025 annual report on the use of the death penalty worldwide, global executions have surged to their highest level in over four decades, driven largely by Iran.

The report said Iranian authorities carried out at least 2,159 executions, more than double the previous year and the highest figure recorded in the country in decades. Iran alone accounted for around 80 percent of all recorded executions worldwide. 

Iran was engulfed in nationwide protests starting late last year, as business owners and shopkeepers at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar went on strike and staged demonstrations over the falling value of the Iranian rial against the US dollar. The unrest later spread to other provinces, with chants increasingly targeting the state. 

The protests led to a violent crackdown from Iranian authorities during which tens of thousands of people were killed, injured, or arrested.

The US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA) reported that it had confirmed the deaths of 6,388 protesters, as well as 236 children, during the period between December 2025 and February 2026.