
Amirhossein Mousavi, detained since December 2024, was found guilty of “corruption on earth” for his online activities
AI-generated summary
The conviction comes against a backdrop of an increase in capital punishment in Iran against defendants considered by NGOs to be political prisoners, in the wake of the January protests and the war in the Middle East. Iran has executed 36 men in connection with the January 2026 protests, and two more men have been hanged for their alleged involvement in the 2022 protests since the conflict with the United States and Israel erupted in late February.
Iranian justice has sentenced to death a man detained for almost two years because of his publications on X and other social networks, his lawyer and several human rights organizations reported Thursday.
This verdict comes against a backdrop of an upsurge in the use of the death penalty in Iran against defendants considered by NGOs to be political prisoners, in the wake of the January demonstrations and the war in the Middle East. Amirhossein Mousavi, now 40, published content on X and Instagram under anonymously managed accounts, which have since been suspended.
Found guilty of “corruption on earth”
He was sentenced to death after being found guilty of “corruption on earth” – one of the most serious charges in Iran which refers to a vague concept regularly denounced by NGOs – in connection with his “online activities under the Twitter account “James B. Dean”” or “James Bi Din” (“James without faith” in Persian), wrote his lawyer Reza Shafakhah on X. The authorities assured that they had established the link between Mr. Mousavi and the account. He was arrested in December 2024 at an airport in Tehran as he was preparing to travel to the Iranian island of Kish, in the Gulf.
The organization Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Norway, confirmed this conviction for his “online dissent” activities against the authorities. After his arrest, Amirhossein Mousavi made a “confessions” in October 2025 on Iranian state television. In this sequence, he was accused of having acted as an Israeli agent to incite protest during the national demonstrations of 2022. He subsequently retracted his remarks, specifies IHR.
NGOs accuse the Iranian authorities of using torture in order to extract confessions then broadcast on television. According to the NGO Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), located in the United States, the trial was presided over by Judge Abolqasem Salavati, known for frequently handing down death sentences. Iran has executed 36 men in connection with the January 2026 protests. And since the outbreak of conflict with the United States and Israel in late February, two more men have been hanged for their alleged involvement in the 2022 protests.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Lawyer Reza Shafakhah or human rights organizations to appeal death sentence
Likely · Within weeks
New executions linked to protests in 2022 or January 2026 will take place in Iran
Likely · Within months

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