EU and US strongly condemned the hanging of the two men, accused of killing a security officer. Human rights NGOs claim that trials are behind closed doors and based on confessions under torture. The European Union (EU) and the United States condemned this Saturday (01/07) the execution of two men in Iran due to their participation in the protests they took account of the Middle Eastern country after the death of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini.
Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, arrested and sentenced to death, were hanged on Saturday morning. They were found guilty of killing a security agent in November during protests that began in mid-September. With the two executions, the number of hanged protesters in Iran involved in the protests rises to four.
Human rights NGOs say the trials are conducted swiftly and behind closed doors, with government-appointed lawyers representing the defendants. Furthermore, according to human rights activists, often the evidence presented is obscure and confessions are obtained under torture.
“[A UE] denounces a new sign of violent repression of the demonstrations and calls once again on the Iranian authorities to immediately put an end to the highly condemnable practice of pronouncing and carrying out death sentences against demonstrators”, said Nabila Massrali, spokesman for the head of European diplomacy , Josep Borrell.
The EU also demanded the “immediate cancellation” of the remaining death sentences already handed down in the context of the demonstrations, added the spokeswoman.
The US “strongly” condemned the trial and the hangings. “These executions are a fundamental element of the regime’s strategy to suppress the protests” that have been underway in the country for months, said US State Department spokesman Ned Price on Twitter.
The lawyer said he did not have access to the case.
Karami and Hosseini were executed for the murder of a member of the Basij paramilitary force, linked to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to a spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, the agent died in Karaj, west of Tehran, on November 3, after being attacked with “knives, stones, fists, kicks” and dragged through a street. Karami and Hosseini were sentenced to death in early December, and Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the decision on Tuesday.
According to human rights groups, Karami was 22 years old and Hossein was 39. Karami’s parents released a video in December asking authorities to spare the young man’s life.
Mashallah Karami described his son as a former member of the national karate team and told Iranian media that a lawyer for the family was unable to access the case file. Furthermore, the youth was not allowed to have a final meeting with the family, his representative Mohamad Aghasi said on Twitter.
UN condemns hangings
The United Nations (UN) human rights office condemned the executions, saying they took place after “unfair trials based on forced confessions”.
In more than three months of protests strongly repressed by the Iranian authorities, more than 500 people have been killed and at least 15,000 arrested, according to the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR).
Since the start of the protests, 14 people have been sentenced to death. Of these, four were executed, two had their sentences upheld by the Iranian court, six are awaiting retrial and two others may appeal.
In addition, dozens of other protesters face charges punishable by death, the IHR said in late December. Activists called for stronger international action after the latest executions.
The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran has called on countries to withdraw their ambassadors from Tehran.
In December, the first two executions take place, sparking global outrage and new Western sanctions against Iran. Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, both 23, were found guilty of attacks on security forces.
new chief of police
Nearly four months after the unrest sparked by Amini’s death, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday appointed a new police chief. General Ahmad-Reza Radan will replace Hossein Ashtari, according to a statement published on the leader’s official website. Khamenei ordered the police department to “improve its capabilities”.
Iranian analyst Mehrzad Boroujerdi told the AFP news agency before the announcement that there were “rumors that Khamenei severely criticized” Ashtari’s performance. He said he expected people like Ashtari to be replaced by “even more radicals to keep tight control” over the security forces.
The current wave of protests in Iran began after the death of the young girl of Kurdish origin Jina Mahsa Amini, 22, in custody after being arrested by the country’s so-called morality police. Although the protests were initially provoked by the strict rules on how women dress, the complaints of the predominantly young population against the ruling class are many.
Clashes were recorded in most cities, as well as in the poorest and most ethnically marginalized regions of the country, such as Kurdistan and Baluchistan.
le (Lusa, AFP, ots)
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