A doctor, a rapper and a soccer player are among the more than 20 Iranians who could be hanged after a death penalty sentencean intimidation tactic of the regime to quell the protests, indicate human rights groups.
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The first two executions linked to the Iranian protest movement, those of Mohsen Shekari, on December 8, and that of Majidreza Rahnavard, on December 12, both aged 23, have provoked protests and new Western sanctions, especially since Rahnavard was hanged in public and not in prison.
Activists are calling for strong international action to prevent further executions. “Until the political cost of executions is significantly higher, we will face mass executions,” warns Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR), which accuses the Iranian authorities of using executions to “sow fear and save the regime”.
Iran has been rocked by protests following the death, on September 16, of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish girl who died after being detained by the morality police for violating the strict dress code required for women. .
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Since its founding in 1979, the Islamic Republic has been rocked by several waves of protest, but this crisis is unprecedented, neither due to its duration, nor due to the fact that it occurs in several provinces, it involves different ethnic groups and social classes and includes direct calls for the end of the regime.
Another 11 people were sentenced to death in the context of the protests and nine face death penalty charges.
Amnesty cites the case of Sahand Nourmohammad-Zadeh, who was sentenced to death on 6 November after being found guilty of “destroying highway guardrails and burning rubbish bins and tires”.
(We invite you to continue reading: Iran sentences five accused of killing a paramilitary to death)
On Wednesday, a recently detained protester, Mahan Sadrat, was “saved from execution”, his lawyer said. Amnesty said it feared the “imminent” execution of the 22-year-old, who was sentenced to death after a summary and “unfair” trial on November 3 after being found guilty of drawing a knife during protests.
“Serious risk” according to Amnesty International
authorities pass and execute death sentences quickly
Mohammad Ghobadlou, 22, was sentenced to death for running a car over police officers, killing one and injuring several others. According to Amnesty, “seriously concerned”, he was tortured in prison.
So was rapper Saman Seydi, aka Saman Yasin, who supported the protest on social media and is accused of shooting into the air. According to Amnesty, he was tortured to extract a forced confession.
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Hamid Ghare Hasanlou, a doctor, and his wife Farzaneh Ghare-Hasanlou were on their way to the funeral of a slain protester when they found themselves “caught up in the chaos” of an attack on a member of the Basidj militia, according to Amnesty.
Hamid Ghare-Hasanlou was sentenced to death and his wife to 25 years in prison, and the court relied on statements Amnesty said were forcibly extracted from his wife.
Her husband was tortured during his detention and hospitalized with broken ribs. Among those facing the death penalty is rapper Toomaj Salehi, 32, charged “solely for criticism of his music and on social media,” adds Amnesty, and in this case too there are allegations of torture.
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Professional footballer Amir Nasr Azadani, 26, also faces the death penalty after being accused of the November deaths of three security guards in the city of Isfahan, according to the NGO.
Executions are often sudden, as authorities approve and carry out death sentences “quickly”, according to Amnesty, which warns of a “serious risk” for people whose death sentences have not been made public and who could be executed “at any time”.
AFP
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