The death sentence marks the latest in a bloody crackdown on a protest movement that began in September in retaliation for the death of Ami in custody by Iran’s so-called moral police, but which has grown over the past two months. religious leadership of the country.
According to human rights organizations, at least a dozen people have been sentenced to death for crimes committed during the protests. They are also warned of the possibility of the death penalty. But experts said Tehran’s response to any executions would be testy.
“Iranian authorities execute protesters without trial.” tweeted Mahmoud Amiri-Moghddam, director of the Norwegian-based Iran Human Rights Organization. “His name is #MohsenShekari – Hanged early this morning.”
His death “must happen [met] With STRONG reactions, otherwise we face daily executions of protesters,” wrote Amiri-Moghaddam. “This death should have immediate practical consequences at the international level.”
Shekari was sentenced to death by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on Nov. 20 after a “moharebeh,” which means “war against God” in Farsi, was executed, Mizan said. A request by Shekari’s lawyers to appeal his sentence was denied.
The executions came amid three days of labor strikes, the country’s largest in decades, and increased pressure on Iranian authorities to respond.
According to Mizan, citing the indictment, Shekari was arrested on September 25 in Tehran’s Sattarkhan area. He allegedly blocked the street and was holding a knife.
Shekari then attacked a member of the Basij, a volunteer militia affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, hitting him in the left shoulder and wounding him with “13 stitches.”
Political prisoners are usually tried in revolutionary courts, a parallel legal system designed to protect the Iranian regime, resulting in a judicial system stacked against protesters.
Human Rights Watch reported last year that courts “do far less than ensure fair trials and use confessions obtained under torture as evidence in court.”
