An Iranian court has handed down a death sentence to a man detained in connection with the January 2026 protests in the northeastern city of Shandiz, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on Sunday.
Hossein Rasouli-Nasab was sentenced by the Mashhad Revolutionary Court on charges including “moharebeh,” or waging war against God, HRANA said.
The rights group said authorities had alleged that he committed moharebeh through participation in the destruction of public property and setting fire to religious centers. He was also accused of assembly and collusion against national security.
A source close to his family told HRANA that a mosque and a Quranic center caught fire during protests in Shandiz on January 8 and 9, and that Rasouli-Nasab’s case was opened in connection with those events.
Rasouli-Nasab was arrested during the January protests along with several other people, HRANA said. He was later transferred to Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, where he remains held.
His case comes amid mounting concern from rights groups over the use of the death penalty against people detained in connection with the nationwide protests.
Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center said in a joint report published on September 10 that Iranian authorities announced the executions of 29 people arrested in connection with the December 2025-January 2026 protests between March 18 and the end of August. Several were 18 or 19 years old, and five were executed in public.
The groups said that in 16 of those cases authorities did not allege that the defendants had killed anyone. Instead, some were executed over allegations including blocking streets, damaging public property and other acts that rights groups said did not meet the threshold for capital punishment under international law.
Human Rights Watch said the proceedings were often extremely fast, in some protest-related cases taking just over five weeks from arrest to execution, and said convictions were based in some cases on torture-tainted confessions and vague national security charges.
Amnesty International has separately accused Iranian authorities of “weaponizing the death penalty to repress dissent.”
Last week, Iran International reported that 18 prisoners held at Dastgerd prison in the central Iranian city of Isfahan were facing possible death sentences over unrest and a fire at the facility.
Last month, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said executions and death sentences in Iran had risen since March, with more than 100 other people facing similar charges and the death penalty.
“The wheels of the economy in the margins and dilapidated parts of major cities have long fallen out of rhythm, giving way to a struggle for daily survival,” Iran’s labor-focused ILNA news agency wrote.
The report documented growing hardship in southern districts of the capital where shopkeepers said customers increasingly ask to postpone payment for groceries, meat, and even bread.
Many businesses can no longer afford to extend credit because the cost of replenishing their stock continues to rise, added ILNA. Signs asking customers not to request purchases on credit have increased in shops.
Bread becomes a purchase on credit
“You sell something today and its price goes up tomorrow. There is no money left to replenish the stock,” a supermarket owner told. “Many customers ask for credit, but I have to refuse. Many come in, ask the price and leave empty-handed.”
Bakeries are also receiving requests for bread on credit, according to ILNA, which described them as a final fallback for low-income households.
One baker said many customers have been unable to repay what they owe for bread, but that he continues extending credit because of their financial circumstances.
Butchers described a similar contraction in spending. “We get more requests for credit than you can imagine,” a butcher said. “I don’t want to send these poor people away empty-handed, but several times I sold on credit and the money never came back.”
Hundreds of people have also told Iran International that rapidly changing prices have made it difficult to plan even their near-term spending, with financial pressures increasingly affecting food, education, transportation and other routine expenses.
One person said 15 eggs and a small container of yogurt cost 5.5 million rials.
Iran’s basic monthly minimum wage for the current Iranian year is about 166 million rials, equivalent to roughly $70 at that exchange rate.
Another person said a brand of canned tuna had risen from 1.7 million rials to 2.5 million rials in a month. Within weeks, the price had climbed again to 2.9 million rials.
Education and transport costs bite
Education costs are also consuming a growing share of household income.
One person said a school bag now costs 20 million rials, equivalent to roughly 12% of the basic monthly minimum wage. Buying food for children to take to school and paying for English-language classes had also become increasingly difficult, the person said.
A 19-year-old earning 150 million rials, or about $64, a month questioned how he could continue his studies when tuition at Azad University in Kermanshah had reached 250 million rials, or about $106, per semester.
Everyday transportation costs are adding to household expenses. One person said a routine monthly service for a pickup truck on Friday cost 45 million rials, or about $19 – more than a quarter of the basic monthly minimum wage.
A retiree receiving the minimum pension said the rising cost of living had left him unable to meet the personal needs of his three daughters.
Residents queue for chicken scraps
The hardship becomes more visible in the southern neighbourhoods of the capital, where people searching garbage bins outside shops for leftover food has become a common sight, ILNA wrote.
Residents line up at one shop selling chicken carcasses and scraps, according to the report.
A dairy shop owner said prices had at least doubled over the past year while his sales had fallen to one-quarter of their previous level.
“Dairy sales have practically fallen to zero, while the shop’s electricity bill has gone from 4 million rials to 18 million rials,” the shopkeeper said. “Where am I supposed to get the money to pay it?”
“New goods arrive, but the previous stock still hasn’t sold and is left on our hands. Prices rise so quickly that customers cannot afford to buy,” the shopkeeper added.
Inflation tests household finances
Iran’s economy has faced years of high inflation and currency depreciation alongside international sanctions, restrictions on trade and finance, corruption and economic mismanagement.
The rial has continued to lose value, increasing the cost of imported goods and adding to the pressure on households whose incomes have failed to keep pace with prices.
The economic pressure is increasingly testing Iran’s ability to withstand financial and trade restrictions, analyst Mohsen Modir-Shanechi told Iran International.
“Countries subjected to this kind of severe economic encirclement gradually but continuously become weaker,” Modir-Shanechi said. “It reaches a point where the country’s political and economic institutions begin to come apart from within.”
Modir-Shanechi said Washington was relying heavily on financial and trade restrictions to constrain the Islamic Republic, comparing the approach with economic pressure previously applied against the Soviet Union, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Cuba and Venezuela.
Inflation is a key measure of Iran’s ability to withstand such pressure, Modir-Shanechi said, pointing to sharp price increases experienced by other economies subjected to prolonged financial and trade restrictions.
Annual tuition at some private and international schools in the affluent districts starts at around 4 billion rials ($1,710) and can reach 10 billion rials ($4,275), Tabnak reported.
Iran’s monthly base wage for workers is 166.25 million rials ($71) this year, meaning the highest annual tuition is equivalent to about five years of base wages.
The schools advertise landscaped grounds, educational play areas, smart classrooms, therapy sessions, dedicated servers, swimming pools, music, sports and instruction in several foreign languages, according to the report.
Some decline to disclose their fees over the telephone, telling prospective parents they must visit in person.
One parent wrote online that his daughter's 10th-grade school charged 5.6 billion rials ($2,395) in tuition and another 1.35 billion rials ($577) for transportation, bringing the annual bill to nearly 7 billion rials ($2,990) before additional expenses.
The parent said the tuition had increased by 2 billion rials ($855) in a year, while transportation costs had risen 40%.
Some schools also seek foreign passports or citizenship as a condition of admission, Tabnak reported. At one primary school examined by the outlet, a second-grade class had just four pupils, with girls and boys studying together and separated only for swimming lessons, according to the school manager. Schools in Iran generally educate girls and boys separately.
Three notebooks for the school year
Messages sent to Iran International by students and parents show a markedly different experience as families prepare for the new academic year.
An 11th-grade student said the family had not bought a new uniform, school bag, shoes or most stationery.
“I didn’t buy a new uniform that fits me, a new bag, shoes or even stationery,” the student told Iran International. “I only bought three notebooks, and even those came to nearly 4 million rials. That’s it. With things the way they are, I’m too embarrassed to ask my parents for more.”
A father in Saqqez, Kordestan province, said his daughter would return to school with a backpack she had already used for three years.
“I couldn’t buy my daughter a school uniform this year,” the father told Iran International. “Her backpack is from three years ago. This year she bought two pens, correction fluid and one notebook.”
A 12-year-old girl in Ahvaz said her family could not afford the stationery she needed.
“I am a 12-year-old girl and we don’t have money for stationery,” she told Iran International. “Today, I went shopping and an ordinary pack of 12 colored pencils was 3.5 million rials.”
Getting into school brings another bill
The financial burden extends beyond stationery and clothing, according to other messages sent to Iran International.
One parent said his daughter had gained admission to a selective school, but registration cost more than 210 million rials, with another 300 million rials requested as an initial payment for transportation.
“Now I don’t know whether I should thank my child for studying and getting accepted or be upset because of costs I can’t afford,” the parent told Iran International.
A 12th-grade student said supplementary study books cost close to 20 million rials apiece.
“If I calculate all of them together, it comes to around 80 million to 100 million rials, and I really feel too embarrassed to ask my father for anything else,” the student told Iran International.
Another parent said the price of entrance-exam preparation books increased substantially between ordering and collection.
The family was initially asked to pay 90 million rials, but a month later the seller requested another 40 million rials because the books had become more expensive, taking the total to 130 million rials.
“Prices in Iran now go up by the second, and we are being crushed under high prices and inflation,” another citizen told Iran International.
Basic school costs multiply
The messages correspond with broader reports showing sharp increases in the cost of preparing a child for school.
A basic basket of supplies for a primary-school student has reached 150 million rials in some estimates, compared with around 38.5 million rials last year, local media reported earlier this month.
Twelve notebooks that cost around 3.5 million rials last year now cost approximately 15 million rials, according to the report.
One stationery shopkeeper told Shargh daily that customers were increasingly choosing cheaper products over quality.
“People aren't paying much attention to quality this year,” the shopkeeper said.
