- Iran sentenced Amirhossein Mousavi to death over posts on X and Instagram, his lawyer and rights groups said.
- He was convicted of "corruption on earth" linked to online activity on the Twitter account James B. Dean.
- Mousavi was arrested at Tehran airport in December 2024 after authorities ascertained he ran the anonymous @james_bidin account.
- Norway based Iran Human Rights said his televised confession was torture tainted, later retracted, and rights groups condemned forced confessions.
- Rights groups tie the sentence to a surge in executions after January 2026 protests and the Middle East war; Judge Abolghasem Salavati presided.
Iran’s judiciary has sentenced to death a man held in detention for almost two years over his posts on X and other social media, his lawyer and several rights groups said.
The death sentence against Amirhossein Mousavi comes as concerns grow over the surging use of the death penalty against defendants seen by rights groups as political prisoners after nationwide protests in January and the Middle East war.
Mousavi posted on X and also Instagram under accounts named James Bi Din (meaning James without faith in Persian), or James B. Dean, which have since been suspended.
He was sentenced to death after being convicted of the capital charge of “corruption on earth” in connection with “online activity on the Twitter account ‘James B. Dean'”, his lawyer Reza Shafakhah wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
His account on X was known as @james_bidin and run anonymously. But authorities ascertained that Mousavi was behind it and he was arrested at a Tehran airport in December 2024 while leaving for the Iranian Gulf island of Kish.
Norway-based rights group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said the conviction was over his “online dissent” against the authorities.
The sentence was also confirmed by US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which said the trial has been presided over by judge Abolghasem Salavati, who is notorious for handing out execution verdicts.
IHR said that following the arrest of Mousavi, 40, he had been shown in October 2025 on Iranian state television making confessions in a segment which accused him of acting as an Israeli agent to incite protests during nationwide demonstrations in 2022.
Rights activists accuse authorities of subjecting detainees to torture to extract forced confessions that are later broadcast on TV. IHR said Mousavi had later retracted the comments broadcast on television.
“His torture-tainted confessions were aired by state media prior to the commencement of legal proceedings,” it said.
Iran has executed 36 men over the January 2026 protests. Since the war broke out with the US and Israel, it has also executed another two men over the protests in 2022.
