Status: 08.12.2022 10:23 a.m
He was convicted of “waging war against God,” and now an Iranian has been executed, according to state media. This is the first time that the regime has carried out one of the death penalties against demonstrators.
According to the state news agency IRNA, a demonstrator has been executed in Iran for the first time since the mass protests began almost three months ago. The man was arrested in Tehran at the end of September, the agency reported.
A revolutionary court in the capital had convicted him of “waging war against God” in accordance with Islamic legal opinion. The judicial authority said the “rioter” blocked Sattar Khan Boulevard in Tehran on September 25 and stabbed a member of the paramilitary Basij militia in the left shoulder.
There was initially no information on the age of the dead man and the type of execution. The death penalty in Iran is usually carried out by hanging.
In recent weeks, several death sentences have been imposed on demonstrators in Iran. The judiciary had announced a tough course in view of the protests. In parliament, too, members of parliament called for harsh sentences, up to the death penalty, for the thousands of detained protesters.
Human rights activists have reported 18,000 arrests so far
Human rights activists estimate that at least 470 demonstrators have been killed and more than 18,000 arrested since mid-September. The trigger for the nationwide protests was the death of the Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini. She died in police custody on September 16 after being arrested by the Morality Police for breaking the Islamic dress code.
Activists say at least 12 people have been sentenced to death for their involvement in the protests. A decisive reaction to the most recent execution must be taken, otherwise demonstrators would be executed every day, wrote the director of the Oslo-based activist group Iran Human Rights, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam. There must be international consequences.