Nabat has her face painted in the colors of the Iranian flag during a rally in support of nationwide protests in Iran, in Madrid, Spain January 17, 2026. © REUTERS/Susana Vera/File Photo
(New York, NY) – As uprisings and demonstrations continue in the pursuit of freedom for the people of Iran, a tragic story has emerged. A young Iranian soldier has been sentenced to death because he refused to open fire on peaceful protesters. This account was reported by a human rights group, which has documented alleged abuses from the Islamic Republic during its crackdown against the protests.
Since late December, people in Iran have taken to the streets in protest of economic struggles and the Islamic clerics’ failures as leaders. It’s widely considered one of the more intense threats to the Islamic Republic’s authority since it was founded in 1979.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran (IHRS) identified the security forces member as Javid Khales. Because he allegedly failed to join his fellow soldiers — who were firing at demonstrators as they took part in the anti-government protests — he has been sentenced to capital punishment.
Based in New York City, the IHRS says “When faced with the command to shoot at protesting people, he refused to execute the order, leading to his immediate arrest and the opening of a case against him. Issuing a death sentence for a soldier because he refused to kill people demonstrates the instrumental use of the judiciary to enforce absolute obedience and intensify protest repression,” the rights group added in a statement. The IHRS is also demanding the Iranian government release the full details of the case, as well as any other cases in which protesters have been arrested.
News of Khales’ sentence comes after Iran’s judiciary signaled that the nation would carry out swift trials and executions of those in custody. Human rights groups have estimated that more than 20,000 people have been arrested during these protests. Officials within the Iran judiciary say the protesters actions were akin to “mohareb,” an Islamic term meaning to wage war on God — which carries the death penalty.
Meanwhile, President Trump has thanked the Islamic Republic’s leadership on Truth Social for canceling the alleged executions of more than 800 people scheduled for hanging. But since then, reports have emerged of Iran’s renewed wave of suppressing dissent as its leadership tries to reclaim control, with Iran’s top police official calling on protesters to turn themselves in to avoid harsher punishments. The IHRS warns that without international intervention, “hasty and extrajudicial sentences” will be carried out in the near future.
