Thu 08 December 2022:
Iran claims to have executed the first prisoner who had been convicted of a crime related to the ongoing national protests.
The person was convicted of injuring a security guard with a long knife and closing off a Tehran street, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday.
Tasnim added that the Supreme Court had rejected the appeal made by the defendant and justified the sentence by saying the defendant’s actions represented a “crime of waging war against God”.
Iran has been rocked by protests since the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by the country’s morality police.
Tasnim identified the person who was executed as Mohsen Shekari but gave no more details.
He was only 23 years old. This morning, just before sunrise, the Islamist regime in Iran executed #MohsenShekari, a protester they had arrested in #Tehran
Mohsen gave his life for freedom. He wanted a normal life. One more brave soul killed by this bloody regime#IranRevolution pic.twitter.com/SapAcpeiqp
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) December 8, 2022
Authorities have been cracking down on the protests and on Monday, the elite Revolutionary Guards praised the judiciary for what it called its tough stand and encouraged it to swiftly and decisively issue judgements for defendants accused of “crimes against the security of the nation and Islam”.
Judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi announced on Tuesday that five people indicted in the killing of a Basij member were sentenced to death in a verdict which they can appeal.
Amnesty International has said the Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 21 people in what it called “sham trials designed to intimidate those participating in the popular uprising that has rocked Iran”.
“The Iranian authorities must immediately quash all death sentences, refrain from seeking the imposition of the death penalty and drop all charges against those arrested in connection with their peaceful participation in protests,” it said.
US Warns
The United States has warned Iran against issuing death sentences for antigovernment protesters saying that the Iranian regime should know the world is watching.
US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said during a briefing on Tuesday that the “draconian” sentences are meant to scare people and dissent.
“Unfortunately, this is just really the latest tactic that we’ve seen from the Iranian regime…[against] individuals who are exercising their universal rights. These sentences, we know, are meant to intimidate people, to suppress dissent. They are – they simply underscore Iran’s leadership’s fears of its own people and the fact that Iran’s government fears the truth,” stated Price.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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