Iranian execution of anti-government protesters condemned by Australia and human rights groups

Peculiarities
  • Iran carried out its first known execution due to protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.
  • Oslo-based Iranian Human Rights says 458 protesters have died in the past three months.
  • At least 11 people have been sentenced to death in connection with the protests.
Iran carried out its first known execution on Thursday over protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, hanging a man convicted of blocking a street and injuring a paramilitary member.
Demonstrations have swept Iran for nearly three months since Amini died following her arrest by the vice police in Tehran for allegedly violating the national hijab dress code for women.

“Mohsen Shekari, a rioter who blocked Sattar Khan Street in Tehran on September 25 and wounded one of the guards with a machete, was executed this morning,” according to the Mizan Online judiciary website.

A revolutionary court in Tehran learned that Shekari was arrested after a Basij paramilitary stabbed him in the shoulder, requiring 13 stitches, according to Mizan Online.
The courts said that Shekari was found guilty of fighting and retrieving weapons “with the intent to kill, cause terror and disturb the order and safety of society”.
He found him guilty of “mohareb” – or waging “war against God” under Iran’s Islamic sharia law – on November 1, Mizan said, adding that he appealed the decision, but on November 20 the Supreme Court upheld it.
On Monday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps praised the judiciary for its tough stance and urged it to rule quickly and decisively against defendants accused of “crimes against the security of the nation and Islam.”

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said reports of executions were deeply troubling and called on the Iranian authorities to “immediately stop” any plans for further executions.

Mahmoud Amiri-Moghaddam, director of the Norwegian-based human rights organization in Iran, said there were very real fears that more executions could follow.

“This execution should have quick practical consequences at the international level,” he wrote in a Twitter post.

At least 458 protesters have been killed in three months, the rights group says.

Protests erupted over the September 16 death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish descent, following her arrest in Tehran for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s dress code for women.
Women, university students and schoolgirls led demonstrations, removing and burning headscarves in the streets, chanting anti-government slogans and opposing security forces.

Iran, which is struggling to contain the protests, describes them as “riots” instigated by its sworn enemy, the United States and its allies, including Britain and Israel.

Oslo-based Iranian Human Rights said security forces responded with a crackdown that killed at least 458 people, including 63 children, according to an update released Wednesday.
The crackdown, which drew widespread international criticism, also led to the arrest of thousands of people, including scientists, journalists and lawyers.

On November 24, the UN Human Rights Council voted to launch a high-level investigation into the crackdown, a move Iran rejected, saying it violated its national sovereignty.

Fears for other protesters on death row

The Basij is a state-sanctioned volunteer force linked to Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

An Iranian court on Tuesday sentenced five people to death by hanging for killing a member of the Basij.

The court brought up to 11 people the number of those sentenced to death in connection with the protests.
London-based human rights organization Amnesty International said it believes at least 28 people could be executed and the number is likely to rise as thousands of indictments are filed.
“At least 28 people, including three children, may be executed in connection with nationwide protests as the Iranian authorities use the death penalty as a tool of political repression to spread fear among the population and end the popular uprising.”

Additional reporting: Reuters