Iran Human Rights Observatory: The execution of a protester accused of “waging war against God” and “spreading corruption on Earth”
An Iranian court has issued the first death sentence linked to recent protests, convicting the unnamed person of “enmity against God” and “spreading corruption on Earth,” state media reports.
They were found guilty of disturbing public order and peace, community and colluding to commit a crime against national security and war on Earth, according to state news agency IRNA.
Five others who took part in the protests received sentences of five to 10 years in prison, convicted of “collusion to commit a crime against national security and disturbance of public peace and order.”
IRNA said that these decisions can be appealed. The news agency did not name the protester who was sentenced to death, or provide information about when or where they committed the crime.
Iranian authorities have charged at least 1,000 people in Tehran province with involvement in the protests.
That figure includes 43 children and 25 women, the group said in an update to its death toll on Saturday, saying that its published number represented an “absolute minimum.”
CNN cannot independently verify the figure as non-state media, the internet, and protest movements in Iran have all been suppressed. Death tolls vary by opposition groups, international rights organizations and journalists tracking the ongoing protests.
Iran’s celebrities and athletes have supported the anti-government protesters despite the threat of arrest and harsher punishments.
The “execution of #MohsenShekari must be me(t) with STRONG reactions otherwise we will be facing daily executions of protesters,” wrote Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of the Oslo-based activist group Iran Human Rights. This execution must have consequences around the world.
Iran’s Mizan news agency reported the execution of the man, identified as Mohsen Shekari. The man in Tehran was accused of blocking the street and attacking a security officer with a machete. The agency said that a member of the forces needed stitches.
Shekari was convicted of “waging war against God” on Nov. 20 after her arrest on Sept. 25, Mizan said. That charge has been levied against others in the decades since 1979 and carries the death penalty. Mizan said an appeal by Shekari’s lawyer against the sentence had failed before his execution.
The Revolutionary Court gave Shekari’s execution a go-ahead without any due process or access to a lawyer of his choice.
“His execution must be met with the strongest possible terms and international reactions. The group is facing daily executions of protesters who are protesting for their human rights, its director told CNN.
The former leader said in a message that the government must listen to the protesters before it is too late, because they will be demonstrating on the anniversary of the murders of three university students.
The Iran-France Revolutionary Guard: Human Rights Violations During the March 11 March 2019 Synagogue Outburst
A prominent Sunni cleric in Iran called on the judiciary to investigate and prosecute people who abuse women in prisons.
Since the demonstrations began, authorities have unleashed a deadly crackdown, with reports of forced detentions and physical abuse being used to target the country’s Kurdish minority group.
In a recent CNN investigation, covert testimony revealed sexual violence against protesters, including boys, in Iran’s detention centers since the start of the unrest.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader has praised the Basij – a wing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard – for its role in the crackdown, describing the protest movement as “rioters” and “thugs” backed by foreign forces.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for an investigation into the alleged violations of human rights in Iran, and said it was in a full-fledged human rights crisis.
Activists warn that others could also be put to death in the near future, saying that at least a dozen people so far have received death sentences over their involvement in the demonstrations.
The Mizan report also alleged that Shekari said he had been offered money by an acquaintance to attack the security forces. Iran’s government claims that foreign countries have fomented unrest in the country, rather than Iranians who are angry over the nation’s finances, heavy-handed policing and other troubles.
Mizan said Rahnavard had been convicted in Mashhad’s Revolutionary Court. The tribunals have been internationally criticized for not allowing those on trial to pick their own lawyers or even see the evidence against them.
After his execution, Iran’s state television aired a heavily edited package of courtroom and parts of her trial.
Salavati faces U.S. sanctions for overseeing cases “in which journalists, attorneys, political activists and members of Iran’s ethnic and religious minority groups were penalized for exercising their freedom of expression and assembly and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, lashes and even execution,” according to the U.S. Treasury.
The execution of a man less than a month after he was accused of killing two security officials shows how fast Iran now carries out the death sentences for those arrested during the protests.
Iran’s Mizan news agency, which is under the purview of the country’s judiciary, alleged that Rahnavard stabbed two security members to death and wounded four others.
A man chasing another around a city street corner, and then standing over him, and stabbing him, is shown on state TV. It was claimed that the person who attacked was a woman, state TV said.
The Mizan report identified the dead as “student” Basij, paramilitary volunteers under Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The Basij (ba-SEEJ’) have deployed in major cities, attacking and detaining protesters, who in many cases have fought back.
Rahnavard had been convicted on the charge of “moharebeh,” a Farsi word meaning “waging war against God.” The death penalty has been levied against others since 1979.
There’s a holy city for Shiites east of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Activists say Mashhad has seen strikes, shops closed and demonstrations amid the unrest that began over the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by Iran’s morality police.
Iran executed the first prisoner detained during demonstrations Thursday. Iran’s rial currency has plummeted, hitting new lows against the US dollar.
State media outlet Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, said Alidoosti had been arrested because there was a “lack of evidence for her claims.”
Alidoosti was known as a feminist activist, and she used her social media to show her support for the protest movement.
She said that every international organization who is not taking action, is a disgrace to humanity because of the way it has been supporting tyranny and tyrants.
“I will stand by the families of prisoners and the killed and will demand justice for them. I will fight for my home and I will pay any cost to stand for my rights,” she wrote.
Her death touched a nerve in the Islamic Republic, with prominent public figures coming out in support of the movement. The protests have since coalesced around a range of grievances with the authoritarian regime.