Ashkan Maleki was a Kurdish citizen from Qorveh, Kurdistan Province.

Arrest

Maleki was detained during the December 2025–January 2026 protests, along with Mehrdad Mohammadinia and Arman Marefati.

During interrogation in a security detention facility, the three men were subjected to physical and psychological torture to extract forced confessions.

Following the end of the interrogation period, Maleki and Mohammadinia were transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, while Marefati was transferred to Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary.

Judicial Process

In March 2026, Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, presided over by Judge Abolghassem Salavati, sentenced Maleki and his co-defendants Mohammadinia and Marefati to death without access to a lawyer of their choosing.

The judiciary-affiliated Mizan news agency said he had been sentenced to death on charges of “participation in operational acts against national security on behalf of the Zionist regime and the hostile US government, and hostile groups and agents affiliated with them, which led to terror, panic and the creation of insecurity in society, as well as entering religious and sacred places with the intention of destroying and setting fire to public and private property, including a mosque and a seminary, with the aim of confronting the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

The Supreme Court upheld the sentence after a rushed review.

Current Status

Maleki was secretly executed in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj at dawn on 1 June 2026.

Additional Information

Maleki was denied the right to a final visit with his family before the execution was carried out.