Iran stated it executed two males Saturday convicted of allegedly killing a member of the safety forces throughout unprecedented nationwide protests sparked by the loss of life of 22-year-old girl Mahsa Amini in custody on Sept. 16.
The two males executed on Saturday had been convicted of killing a Basij paramilitary pressure militia member. Three others have been sentenced to loss of life in the identical case, whereas 11 obtained jail sentences.
“Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, principal perpetrators of the crime that led to the unjust martyrdom of Ruhollah Ajamian, were hanged this morning,” the judiciary stated in a press release carried by the official IRNA news company.
The newest executions carry to 4 the variety of protesters formally recognized to have been executed within the aftermath of the unrest.
Amnesty International stated final month that Iranian authorities are searching for the loss of life penalty for not less than 26 others in “sham trials designed to intimidate protesters in the popular uprising that has rocked the country.”
It stated all these going through loss of life sentences had been denied the precise to satisfactory protection and entry to their chosen attorneys. Rights teams say defendants have as an alternative needed to depend on state-appointed attorneys who do little to defend them.
Amnesty stated the courtroom that convicted Karami, a 22-year-old karate champion, relied on pressured confessions.
Hosseini’s lawyer Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani stated in a Dec. 18 tweet that Hosseini had been severely tortured and that confessions extracted underneath torture had no authorized foundation.
He stated Hosseini was crushed along with his fingers and ft tied up, kicked within the head till he handed out, and subjected to electrical shocks on completely different physique elements.
Iran denies that confessions are extracted underneath torture.
Mahsa Amini died in custody in September after being arrested by morality police imposing the nation’s obligatory costume code legal guidelines. The ensuing protests symbolize one of many greatest challenges to the Islamic Republic since its institution in 1979.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday named hardline police official Ahmad Reza Radan as the brand new nationwide police commander, state media reported.
Radan, positioned underneath the United States sanctions in 2010 for human rights violations, regularly referred to as for strict enforcement of the nation’s costume code for ladies throughout his earlier police positions.
The Basij pressure, affiliated with Iran’s highly effective Revolutionary Guards, has been behind a lot of the crackdown towards protesters.
Iran has blamed the unrest on its international foes, together with the U.S., and sees its crackdown on protests as preserving nationwide sovereignty.
The rights group HRANA stated 517 protesters had been killed throughout the unrest as of Friday, together with 70 minors. It stated 68 members of the safety forces had additionally been killed.
It stated that as many as 19,262 protesters are believed to have been arrested.
Iranian officers have stated that as much as 300 individuals, together with members of the safety forces, have died.
The first protester knew to be executed, 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari, on Dec. 8, lower than three months after his arrest. He was accused of burning a trash bin, blocking a highway, stabbing a member of the Basij militia with a machete, and threatening public security.
Majid Reza Rahnavard, 23, was hanged from a crane in public on Dec. 12 within the northeastern metropolis of Mashhad, lower than a month after his arrest. He was accused of stabbing to loss of life two Basij members and wounding 4 different individuals in Mashhad.
