A man arrested in connection with the current wave of protests in Iran has been sentenced to death and told he faces execution, his family and a human rights group say.

Erfan Soltani, 26, was arrested last Thursday in the city of Fardis, just west of Tehran. Days later, authorities informed his family his execution had been scheduled for Wednesday without giving any additional details, according to Norway-based Kurdish human rights group Hengaw.

On Wednesday, Hengaw said it had “serious and ongoing concerns regarding Soltani’s right to life” but that, according to information obtained through relatives, his execution had been postponed.

Iran’s judiciary has not yet commented on Soltani’s case or announced any execution in connections with the protests. The internet blackout imposed by the government has also made obtaining information on his status – and others in potentially similar situations – difficult.

Awyer Shekhi of Hengaw told the BBC she feared there were “many” cases like Soltani’s, highlighting the scale and speed to which Iranian authorities were carrying out violent crackdowns compared to previous protests.

On Tuesday, one of Soltani’s relatives told BBC Persian that a court had issued a death sentence “in an extremely rapid process, within just two days”.

Soltani is a resident of Fardis, Karaj, where he owns a clothes shop. He was arrested “at his private residence”, Hengaw said in a statement.

Iranian authorities have reportedly failed to give Soltani’s family any more information about his case, citing only that he had been arrested in connection with a protest.

His sister, who is a lawyer, tried to pursue the case but authorities told her there was nothing to pursue, Shekhi told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“He is just someone who is against the current situation in Iran… now he’s received a death sentence for expressing his opinion.”

Shekhi said prisoners on death row in Iran were typically granted a final visit by their loved ones before their execution.

While the Iranian authorities had told the family they would allow a meeting with Erfan before his execution, he had not been allowed any contact with his family since his arrest, she added.

There was a “high chance” other people in Iran were in a similar position to Soltani, but there was little information about them because of the internet shutdown, according to Shekhi.

President Donald Trump has said the US will take “very strong action” against Iran if it executes protesters – telling Iranians to “KEEP PROTESTING” in a post on his Truth Social platform. He also said he has cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials “until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY”.

He has since said that his administration had been told “on good authority” that “the killing in Iran is stopping, and there’s no plan for executions”.

Authorities in Tehran imposed an internet blackout last Thursday, as the protests escalated and authorities stepped up their deadly crackdown.

The BBC and most other international news organisations are also unable to report from inside Iran, making obtaining and verifying information difficult.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had so far confirmed the killing of 2,417 protesters, as well as 12 children and 10 uninvolved civilians, despite the blackout. Nearly 150 people affiliated with the security forces or government had also been killed, the group said.

At least 18,434 protesters have been arrested during the unrest, according to HRANA.

Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei has pledged swift legal action against what he called “rioters”. According to Mohseni-Ejei, those who have “committed terrorist acts should definitely be given priority for trial and punishment”.

Authorities were planning to hold open trials for some of the main figures involved in recent unrest, with proceedings accessible to the media, he said on Wednesday.

But Iran’s handling of Soltani’s case “constitutes a clear violation of international human rights law”, Hengaw’s statement said, adding: “The rushed and non-transparent handling of this case has heightened concerns over the use of the death penalty as a tool to suppress public protests.”

“Erfan is the first protester to be sentenced to death, but he won’t be the last,” the US State Department said on its Farsi-language X account.

The protests, which have reportedly spread to more than 180 cities and towns in all 31 provinces, were sparked by anger over the collapse of the Iranian currency and soaring cost of living.

They quickly widened into demands for political change and became one of the most serious challenges to the clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

At least 12 men have been executed in Iran over the past three years after being sentenced to death in connection with the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests.

That nationwide unrest was triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who was accused by morality police of wearing “improper” hijab.

Human rights groups say the last such execution happened on 6 September, when Mehran Bahramian was hanged in Isfahan.

The Norway-based group, Iran Human Rights, reported at the time that the authorities had tortured Bahramian to obtain confessions and that he did not receive a fair trial.

He was sentenced to death by a court in January 2024 on the charge of “enmity against God” for allegedly killing a member of the Revolutionary Guards at a protest in Semirom in December 2022, it said.