The hidden toll of the US-Israeli war on Iran | DW News

Key Concepts

• Politically Motivated Executions: The use of the death penalty as a strategic tool to suppress dissent and instill fear.
• Revolutionary Courts: Specialized judicial bodies in Iran that operate under the influence of security and intelligence agencies, characterized by a lack of due process.
• Coercive Interrogation: The practice of using torture and prolonged isolation in secret detention facilities to extract forced confessions.
• "Enmity Against God" (Moharebeh): A vague, broad legal charge used by the Iranian regime to justify death sentences for political protesters.
• Conveyor Belt Justice: A term describing the systematic, rapid, and secret processing of detainees from arrest to execution.

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1. Main Topics and Key Points

The Iranian government is utilizing a "deadly playbook" of mass executions to maintain control during periods of war and civil unrest.

• Surge in Executions: According to Amnesty International, global executions have reached a 40-year high, with Iran being the primary driver. In 2025, Iran executed 2,159 people—a nine-fold increase over five years.
• Categories of Execution: Nearly 50% of executions are for drug-related offenses, while others are for murder or political charges such as "corruption on earth," "espionage," and "enmity against God."
• Strategic Repression: The regime uses these executions to deter dissent, particularly following the 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests and the 12-day war in June 2025. Since the US/Israeli strikes on February 28, 2025, at least 32 individuals have been executed in an expedited manner.

2. Case Studies and Real-World Applications

• Sassan Azadvar: A 21-year-old karate athlete convicted of "enmity against God" for allegedly smashing a police vehicle and inciting arson. The court claimed his actions were at the behest of the US and Israel.
• Salai Muhammadi: A teenage wrestling champion executed for the alleged murder of a policeman, despite his family providing evidence that he was not present at the scene.
• Narges Mohammadi: A Nobel Peace Prize laureate currently imprisoned; her health has deteriorated significantly, highlighting the regime's neglect of political prisoners.

3. Methodologies and Frameworks

• The Judicial "Conveyor Belt":
  1. Arrest: Detainees are held in secret facilities run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or the Ministry of Intelligence.
  2. Interrogation: Prisoners are subjected to weeks of coercive interrogation to secure forced confessions.
  3. Trial: Revolutionary Courts conduct secret, minutes-long trials without independent legal representation.
  4. Execution: Families are often kept in the dark until the final moments, and in some cases, the state refuses to return the bodies of the executed.

4. Key Arguments and Perspectives

• Amnesty International (Raha Bahini): Argues that the regime is intentionally using the death penalty as a tool of political repression. They emphasize that the trials are "systematically unfair" and rely on torture-tainted evidence.
• Regime Framing: The Iranian government labels protesters as "foreign agents" or "spies" to delegitimize domestic grievances. They use rhetoric from US/Israeli officials (e.g., Donald Trump’s calls for regime change) to justify harsh crackdowns.
• Human Rights vs. Geopolitics: Experts argue that the international community has sidelined human rights in favor of focusing on Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, allowing the regime to commit "protest massacres" without consequence.

5. Notable Quotes

• "Iranian authorities have turned prisons in Iran into killing fields." — Raha Bahini, Amnesty International.
• "The authorities have at least executed 32 individuals who include protesters, dissident and those accused of espionage... in order to deter descent." — Raha Bahini.

6. Data and Statistics

• 2,159: Total executions in Iran in 2025.
• 6,500: Estimated number of arrests since the start of the war under charges of treason and espionage.
• 3,000+: Estimated deaths of protesters by security forces during economic protests in late 2025.
• 3,500: Estimated civilian deaths caused by US/Israeli attacks, highlighting the "double danger" faced by the Iranian population.

7. Synthesis and Conclusion

The Iranian regime’s current strategy is a calculated effort to eliminate internal opposition under the cover of external conflict. By utilizing secret detention, torture-tainted confessions, and expedited judicial processes, the state has effectively weaponized the legal system. The international community’s focus on nuclear non-proliferation has inadvertently created a vacuum of accountability, leaving Iranian dissidents to face both the threat of foreign bombardment and the systematic, state-sponsored violence of their own government.