Iran’s judiciary announced that Mohammad Aref Shahbakhsh was executed at dawn on Saturday, November 7, 2026, after his death sentence was upheld. The announcement came through Mizan, the judiciary’s own news outlet. HRANA and Iran Human Rights, two groups that track executions in Iran, also documented the execution.
Iran Human Rights identifies Shahbakhsh as a Baluch political prisoner, about 27 years old. He was arrested on August 29, 2024, and was held incommunicado, cut off from contact with his family, for 52 days, the group said.
The judiciary convicted him of baghy, or armed rebellion, and moharebeh, which the judiciary describes as waging war against God. The judiciary said he took part in an attack on August 16, 2024, on the Qaleh Bid police outpost in Khash County, in Sistan-Baluchestan province. Jaish al-Adl claimed that attack. A conscript, Ali Raoufian, was killed in it, and several officers were wounded, the judiciary said.
His guilt is a state allegation, and it should be read that way. The judiciary says he belonged to Jaish al-Adl and took part in the attack, but it has published no evidence for those claims, and his alleged role was never independently verified.
Rights groups say Shahbakhsh was denied independent legal counsel and did not get a fair trial.
The judiciary did not say where the execution took place. Hengaw and one rights statement placed it at Zahedan Central Prison, but Iran Human Rights said it had not confirmed the location.
The execution is one of hundreds Iran Human Rights has counted this year. The group says at least 691 people were executed in Iran in the first ten months of 2026, including 64 Baluch prisoners.
Sources: Mizan; Reuters; HRANA; Iran Human Rights.
