Resaei was alleged to have killed an officer during the subsequent protests. His family, who maintain his innocence, were denied a final visit before his execution, which was carried out in secret.

“[Resaei] was the most voiceless of those executed. The EU and other countries did not protest his execution a lot because the attention is elsewhere,” said Mansoura Shojaee, an Iranian women’s rights researcher and activist in the Netherlands.

“While global and domestic media attention have been focused on regional tensions with Israel, the Iranian authorities have carried out the abhorrent arbitrary execution in secret of a young man,” said Diana Eltahawy of Amnesty International.

According to Amnesty, Rasaei was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including sexual violence, then sentenced to death in a sham trial.

‘Shocking’

Ms Shojaee said the surge in the number of executions in recent days has “shocked” Iranian human rights activists.

“For the first time in the recent social movements in Iran, we have four imprisoned women activists who are sentenced to death,” she said.

She said the regime had “diverted the people’s attention to war and a foreign enemy to carry out more executions – just like they did in the 1980s”.

“This distraction is precisely what the regime seeks, to further suppress domestic dissent,” she added, referring to the escalating crisis in Iran-Israel relations.

Assassination of Haniyeh

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has vowed to “severely punish” Israel for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil.

Israeli and Western officials expect an attack in the coming days, carried out either by Iran or its Lebanon-based proxy group, Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, in Iran, executions surge. The United Nations has reported 345 so far this year, including 15 women.