After Trump's threats Iran postpones execution of Erfan Soltani

In Iran, the planned execution of a young protester has been postponed at short notice. Although 26-year-old store owner Erfan Soltani remains in custody, he is not to be executed for the time being.

DPA

15.01.2026, 07:44

dpa

The executionof a protester arrested in Iran last week has been postponed, according to his family. Activists told the AP that Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old clothing store employee, was among the thousands of Iranians arrested last week after nationwide protests degenerated into violence. Although Soltani is apparently not to be executed after all, he has not been released either, according to a relative.

Somamjeh, a 45-year-old close relative of Soltani who lives abroad and only wants to be referred to by her first name for fear of government reprisals, told the AP on Wednesday that the family had initially been informed of an execution scheduled for that day. However, it was postponed when they reached the prison in Karaj, a city northwest of Tehran.

Thousands of people are said to have already been killed

The relative said the family had spent the last six days in fear of what might happen to Soltani and were now in even greater uncertainty.

The demonstrations began on December 28 following the collapse of the Iranian rial, which now stands at over 1.4 million per US dollar. Iran's economy is groaning under international sanctions, which were imposed partly because of its nuclear program. The protests intensified and increasingly challenged the theocracy in Iran directly.

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According to activists, thousands of people have been killed in the crackdown on mass protests in Iran in recent weeks, most of them demonstrators. More than 18,000 others have been arrested, according to the US-based group Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).