Iran has announced the first execution of a protester convicted of recent anti-government unrest. Mohsen Shekari was hanged this morning after being found guilty by the Revolutionary Court of “enmity against God”state media reported.
He is accused of being a “rebel” who in September blocked a main road in Tehran and wounded a paramilitary member with a machete, the BBC reports.
According to activists to the media, he was convicted after a show trial without any fair procedure.
The director of Norway-based Iran Human Rights wrote on Twitter that executions of protesters would begin to take place on a daily basis if Iranian authorities did not face “swift practical consequences internationally”.
How do you get to the execution?
The Mizan Judicial News Agency reported that the Revolutionary Court was informed that on September 25, Mohsen Shekari blocked Sattar Khan Street in Tehran and used a machete to attack a member of the Basij Resistance Forces, a volunteer paramilitary force that are often used to quell protests.
On Nov. 1, the court found Shekari guilty of fighting and drawing a weapon “with intent to kill, cause terror and disrupt public order and security” and convicted him of “enmity against God,” Mizan said.
He appealed the sentence, but it was upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court on November 20.
So far, the judiciary has announced that 10 more people have been sentenced to death on charges of “enmity against God” in connection with the protests. The identities of the accused have not been released.
The international non-governmental organization Amnesty International said that the death sentences were designed to further suppress the popular uprising and to instill fear among the public.
According to them, the revolutionary courts acted under the influence of the security forces and intelligence to impose harsh sentences after grossly unfair trials, characterized by abbreviated and mostly secret procedures, adds the BBC.
When and why did the protests start in Iran?
We recall that mass protests in Iran broke out in mid-September after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, detained by the moral police for wearing a hijab “incorrectly”.
The protests have engulfed 160 cities in all 31 provinces of the country and are seen as one of the most serious challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.
Iran’s leaders described them as “riots” incited by the country’s foreign enemies and ordered security forces to deal decisively with them.
According to Human Rights Defenders Information Agency (HRANA), at least 475 protesters have been killed and 18,240 people have been detained so far. It also reported the death of 61 members of the security forces.
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