A court in Iran has sentenced Leila Abolhassani, a 43-year-old mother of two teenage daughters detained during the January protests in the central city of Shahin Shahr, to death on charges of “waging war against God,” a source familiar with her case told Iran International.
The source said Abolhassani was only filming a supermarket fire when she was arrested on the evening of January 8. Branch 5 of Isfahan’s Revolutionary Court nevertheless sentenced her to death on charges of participating in setting fire to the store.
Abolhassani, who worked as a nail technician, was transferred following her arrest to Dowlatabad Prison in Isfahan, where she has been held for more than seven months.
Her case was referred to Iran’s Supreme Court following an appeal against the sentence and remains under review, the source said.
She faces execution if the Supreme Court upholds the ruling.
Abolhassani’s case follows reports of death sentences against two other men detained during January’s nationwide protests.
Earlier in the week, US-based rights group HRANA reported that Amir Mohammad Mojallal Choubari, 22, and Hossein Nazari, 25, were sentenced to death in separate cases.
Last Sunday, Iran executed Majid Adineh, another January protest detainee, after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.
Adineh was arrested on January 9 in Mohammadshahr, near Karaj. A Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death and ordered the confiscation of all his property over accusations of taking “operational action” for Israel, the United States and hostile groups.
Earlier this month, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said on that Iran was using capital punishment to “instill fear among the population and suppress dissent,” urging authorities to halt executions and move toward abolishing the death penalty.
He called the persistent lack of fair-trial and due-process guarantees “deeply troubling,” citing reports of confessions obtained under torture and cases in which executions followed within weeks of arrest.
The US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center said Wednesday it had documented 950 executions in Iran since the beginning of 2026, including at least 20 women and 30 protesters. It recorded 45 executions in August so far.
The rights group said Iran’s use of the death penalty took place within a judicial system marked by unfair proceedings, a lack of transparency and political interference, with fair-trial protections systematically violated.
The German Foreign Ministry, responding to questions from Iran International, said Bank Melli and its Hamburg branch were already covered by wide-ranging EU restrictions.
“Bank Melli Iran is already subject to far-reaching sanctions at EU level, and this of course also applies to Bank Melli's branch in Germany,” the ministry said.
The ministry did not say whether Germany was considering closing the Hamburg branch or whether Washington had formally asked Berlin to do so.
US pressure
The questions follow US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's launch earlier this week of “Operation Economic Outcast,” a campaign aimed at cutting Iran's financial and commercial links abroad.
Bessent specifically targeted Bank Melli, saying “every Bank Melli branch must be shuttered.”
The German Foreign Ministry said Berlin had taken note of Bessent's announcement and remained in talks with Washington and other partners.
“The federal government has taken note of US Treasury Secretary Bessent's announcement and is in constant contact with the US as well as other partners in the EU and in the region regarding further measures against Iran,” it told Iran International.
Berlin gave no indication in its response that a decision had been made on the future of the Hamburg branch.
EU sanctions
The European Union reimposed nuclear-related sanctions against Iran in September last year after France, Germany and Britain triggered the snapback mechanism the previous month.
The measures restored asset freezes on listed Iranian entities and broader restrictions on trade and financial activity.
Bank Melli is explicitly listed under the EU measures along with all its branches and subsidiaries.
EU documents describe Bank Melli as Iran's largest bank, owned and controlled by the Iranian government, and say it provides services to the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.
Under the sanctions, funds and economic resources belonging to or controlled by listed entities must be frozen, and funds or economic resources generally cannot be made available to them directly or indirectly.
EU rules also restrict transfers involving Iranian banks and their branches, while providing exemptions and procedures under which competent authorities can authorize certain transactions.
German oversight
The German Foreign Ministry said the Bundesbank was responsible for implementing EU and UN financial sanctions under Germany's foreign trade framework and referred questions about banking supervision to BaFin.
The Bundesbank says its Financial Sanctions Service Center is Germany's authority for implementing restrictions on capital and payments.
BaFin declined to comment to Iran International on possible measures involving Bank Melli, citing legal confidentiality requirements concerning individual financial institutions.
The regulator told Iran International that Bank Melli remained in its official database and said any final measure that could legally be made public would be published on its website.
BaFin has previously acted against the Hamburg branch.
The regulator said in October 2021 that it had imposed a credit ban on the branch on September 7 of that year after finding that it had breached the four-eyes principle required under German banking rules.
Iran International has also asked the Bundesbank how the restored EU sanctions are being implemented in relation to Bank Melli's Hamburg branch. The central bank had not responded by the time of publication.
For now, Germany has confirmed that EU sanctions apply to the branch but has not said it plans to close it, even as Washington presses foreign governments to shut Bank Melli operations abroad.
The documents, released in redacted form by Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board at the request of Global News, include a Canada Border Services Agency assessment that said Abbas Omidi's senior role in Iran's mining sector benefited the government's ability to finance the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and armed groups abroad.
“As a result of his power and influence, the subject directly benefited the Iranian economy and the government’s ability to continue to fund terrorism and human rights abuses throughout the world,” the CBSA said.
The agency said Omidi was “critical in the Iranian government’s continued ability to draw in mining revenue and fund the military, weapons manufacturing, and terrorism, both foreign and domestic.”
The assessment was written in 2024 and formed part of hundreds of pages disclosed in Omidi's deportation case, Global News reported.
Omidi's lawyer did not respond to requests for comment from Global News. At his deportation hearing, Omidi acknowledged serving as a deputy director general in Iran's Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade but said his role was mainly technical.
CBSA links mining revenue to IRGC funding
The CBSA said Iran's mining sector was closely tied to the military and the IRGC and provided revenue that helped Tehran support armed groups in the region.
“The abundant amount of wealth generated from the mining industry allows the Iranian regime and specifically, the IRGC, to continue to be a state sponsor of terrorism,” the CBSA report said.
The agency said the IRGC provided financing, training, weapons, technology and other support to groups including Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Iraqi group Kata'ib Hezbollah.
Canada lists the IRGC as a terrorist entity.
The CBSA said Omidi “directly and significantly impacted and benefited the Iranian economy and the government’s ability to continue to fund its military, weapons production, and terrorism and human rights abuses throughout the world.”
Global News said the allegations about Omidi's role in revenue used to support armed groups were contained in the CBSA assessment but were not raised during his deportation hearing.
Deportation case centers on senior government role
The CBSA is seeking to deport Omidi on the grounds that he was a senior official in Iran's government, Global News reported.
Canada moved in 2022 to bar senior Iranian government officials from entering or remaining in the country after Tehran's crackdown on anti-government protests.
Omidi arrived in Canada as a visitor in 2022 after serving in Iran's mining and trade ministry. The CBSA said he had “exerted significant influence on the exercise of government power,” according to Global News.
His deportation hearing began in March. The Immigration and Refugee Board said on Wednesday that the hearing had concluded and that a decision was expected in the fall.
Omidi had sought to keep the proceedings closed to the press, but the board rejected the request after Global News challenged the move.
