{"id":345100,"date":"2026-05-16T07:57:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=345100"},"modified":"2026-05-16T08:01:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T07:01:50","slug":"iran-news-in-brief-may-16-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-news-in-brief-news\/iran-news-in-brief-may-16-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran News in Brief \u2013 May 16, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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May 15, 2026: Supporters of the Iranian Resistance held a book stall and photo exhibition in Melbourne, Australia, to protest the executions of political prisoners<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS<\/h3>\n

UPDATE: 09:00 AM CEST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Same-Day Death Sentences Show Its Brutality, Again<\/h3>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

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For more than 20 years, before I went to Congress, I sat on a criminal court bench in Texas. I presided over more than 20,000 cases. I know what a courtroom is supposed to be. It is the place where the state\u2019s power to take a person\u2019s liberty, property, or life is restrained \u2014 by procedure, by evidence, by the right to a defense and by the deliberate pace of justice. A courtroom that abandons those safeguards is not a court. It is something else.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Last\u00a0month, Iran\u2019s\u00a0judiciary\u00a0chief, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje\u2019i, made clear what that \u201csomething else\u201d looks like.<\/p>\n

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Speaking to judicial officials in Tehran, Eje\u2019i declared that his courts had adopted a \u201ccombat stance,\u201d\u00a0according to reporting<\/span>\u00a0from a longstanding Iranian opposition group.\u00a0\u00a0Political cases, he said, must no longer follow normal procedures. Files that once took days to investigate must now be completed within hours. Interrogators are to leave their offices and question defendants directly in prison. Indictments must be drafted at\u00a0speed. There must be \u201cno delay or hesitation\u201d in carrying out sentences\u2014whether executions or property confiscations. \u201cNo leniency whatsoever\u201d is to be shown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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These are not the directives of a judiciary. They are the orders of a system designed for rapid punishment, one in which the outcome is\u00a0predetermined\u00a0and the process exists only to legitimize it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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UPDATE: 08:00 AM CEST<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Martyr\u2019s Pledge: Pouya Ghobadi\u2019s Letter Reveals the Indestructible Resolve of PMOI Members<\/h3>\n

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On the morning of March 31, 2026, the Iranian regime executed 33-year-old political prisoner and member of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK),\u00a0Pouya Ghobadi<\/a>. Yet, long before he was sent to the gallows, Ghobadi had already defeated his executioners.<\/p>\n

A profound letter written by Ghobadi from Brigade 2 of the Greater Tehran Prison (Fashafouyeh) on August 2, 2025, has emerged as a historic testament to the unbreakable spirit of the Iranian Resistance. Penned just days after the regime executed two PMOI\/MEK members,\u00a0Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani<\/a>, the letter proves that the regime\u2019s brutal machinery of death fundamentally fails to break the spirit of its opponents.<\/p>\n

For 60 years, the PMOI has demonstrated against both the Shah\u2019s dictatorship and the ruling mullahs that state violence only breeds a more defiant generation. Ghobadi\u2019s letter is a powerful embodiment of this legacy, showing a young man who consciously chose the path of sacrifice for a free Iran.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Iran: Audio Message by PMOI Member Vahid Baniamerian<\/h3>\n

Simay Azadi\u00a0<\/a>has obtained an exclusive voice recording from Vahid Baniamerian, a member of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI<\/a>), recorded from prison in July 2025, before his execution.\u00a0Vahid was executed on April 4, 2026, in Ghezel Hesar Prison amid a recent wave of executions targeting PMOI prisoners.<\/p>\n

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PMOI Prisoner Vahid Baniamerian\u2019s Message to His Mother from Prison | \u201cPray I Do Not Fear Death\u201d<\/div><\/div>
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