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Reza Zanganeh Moved to Solitary in Ghezel Hesar Under Death Sentence

Death-row prisoner Reza Zanganeh, 27, was moved to solitary in Ghezel Hesar, HRANA says. He was sentenced over alleged Mossad ties; his appeal is pending.

ByPeter Peters
A dim corridor in an old prison, with light falling through a small opening in a far door
Fremantle Prison, Western Australia, a former prison now a museum. Photo by Evad37 (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons. Generic image; not Ghezel Hesar.

Reza Zanganeh, a 27-year-old prisoner under a death sentence, has been moved to solitary confinement in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, west of Tehran, the rights group HRANA reported on 12 October 2026. His name is also spelled Zangeneh. HRANA said it had no further information on the reason for the transfer.

Rights groups say such transfers often come shortly before a hanging, but no source has reported that Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld his sentence or that an execution date has been set.

The case against him

According to the Kurdish rights group Hengaw, security forces arrested Zanganeh at his workplace in Malard, Alborz Province, on 3 April 2026. Hengaw says he is originally from Kalilabad village near Malayer and worked as a technician repairing foreign-made cars.

Branch 2 of the Karaj Revolutionary Court, with Judge Sabzevari presiding and Judge Narimani as adviser, sentenced him to death on charges of “moharebeh” (enmity against God) and “cooperation with Mossad,” Israel’s intelligence agency, HRANA and Hengaw reported. Iran International, citing HRANA, described the second charge as “cooperating with Israel.”

People close to Zanganeh told Hengaw that the espionage allegation rests only on his work repairing foreign vehicles and on earlier work trips abroad. His family also denies the charge, according to the Iran Human Rights Society. Iranian authorities have not published a detailed account of the evidence, and Peter’s World could not find an official statement on the case.

Appeal and pressure on the family

IranWire, which first reported the sentence on 27 August, says the family had 12 days to object and the case was sent to the Supreme Court. Zanganeh first had a court-appointed lawyer; his family later hired a lawyer of its choice, IranWire reports. Hengaw says security agencies have pressed the family to stay silent and not publicise the case.

The Iran Human Rights Society, a Persian-language group, reported that Zanganeh and a second prisoner, Hamid Kazemi, were moved together from Unit 3, Hall 37 of Ghezel Hesar to solitary cells. It described both as detainees from the nationwide protests, a detail the other sources do not report for Zanganeh. The group added that no independent information yet shows the move is a prelude to an imminent execution.

Why the transfer worries rights groups

Rights monitors have documented a pattern in which prisoners are moved to solitary cells shortly before they are hanged. Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) refers to these as “pre-execution solitary confinement cells.” On 11 October it warned that Habibollah Ghanbarzehi-Farjad, a Baluch prisoner on death row for drug offences, was at imminent risk after such a transfer in Kerman Prison, and his family was summoned for a final visit.

A recent protest case shows how short the gap can be. IHRNGO reported on 12 September that Alireza Sepahi Badjani had been moved to solitary confinement in Isfahan; he was hanged on 5 October. IranWire notes that solitary transfers of death-row prisoners “often heighten concerns” about an execution, while stressing that nothing official confirms a date for Zanganeh.

Executions in Iran are carried out by the judiciary and prison authorities after court proceedings. The sources consulted do not report what role, if any, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) played in his arrest or prosecution.

Context: espionage executions in 2026

IHRNGO says at least 16 people were executed on espionage charges in 2026 by 30 September, most of them accused of spying for Israel and the United States. It recorded at least 617 executions of all kinds this year by 10 October. Zanganeh is listed on the Peter’s World Iran Executions Tracker and Memorial under “Sentenced, not executed,” where this entry will be updated if his status changes.

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