Iran has executed a 23-year-old man convicted of stabbing security officials and blocking streets to frighten people during recent nationwide protests.
The Islamic Republic has arrested thousands of people since demonstrations began in September, but Mohsen Shekhali, who was hanged early Thursday morning, is the first person to be executed. At least 10 are on death row, according to official media.
Shekari was arrested on September 25 in Sattarkhan, a middle-class district in western Tehran. Last month, he was sentenced to death by a preliminary court after being convicted. Mohalebe Or “fighting with God”. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling, according to local media.
Justice Department news agency Mizan said on Thursday that Shekhali had “scared” people by blocking streets and not allowing about 150 vehicles to pass. protest.
He then allegedly stabbed a Revolutionary Guard volunteer in the shoulder as he tried to stop Shekari and reopen the street. Volunteer guards had to stitch his 13 stitches.
According to local media reports, Shekhali “confessed” that he had promised to pay him for attacking security forces by a man called Ali. The Islamic Republic says the protests are being fueled by outside forces such as the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Opposition parties had previously warned that the executions would spark further demonstrations. The hanging occurs when the protests have subsided. Most businesses continued to operate despite opposition calls to strike.
The longest-running protests so far in the Islamic Republic took place in September after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died in police custody for failing to properly follow the official Islamic dress code. It started in the middle of the year.
Since then, about 200 people, including members of the security forces, have been killed during the protests, according to official statistics. Amnesty International gave his death toll of 305, including 41 children.
The Islamic Republic has eased enforcement of the law on compulsory Islamic cover for women, not in law but in practice, but has made no other concessions. I vowed to bring those people to justice.
In a sign of how little it is prepared to compromise, Iran has sentenced five men to death for the murder of Ruhollah Ajamian, a voluntary member of the guard, in the city of Karaj, west of the capital Tehran. , sentenced 11 defendants to death, including three minors, and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms.
Iran’s judicial spokesman Masood Setaesh said this week that “the judiciary will not make any concessions on the lives of 200 civilians” lost due to “provocations” by the opposition. “The defendant’s trial will be swift, careful and serious, and those who commit the crime will be punished,” he added.
