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Rights groups warned Sunday that several protesters in Iran are at imminent risk of execution, following an international backlash against the clerical regime’s first hanging linked to ongoing demonstrations.
The almost three-month-old protest movement was sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian arrested by the morality police for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.
The protests, described by the authorities as “riots”, represent the biggest challenge to the regime since the shah’s ouster in 1979. They have been met with a crackdown that activists say aims to instil public fear.
Iran on Thursday executed Mohsen Shekari, 23, who was convicted of attacking a member of the security forces. Rights groups said he underwent a show trial marked by undue haste.
Iran’s judiciary says it has handed down death sentences to 11 people so far in connection with the protests, but campaigners say around a dozen others face charges that could see them receive the death penalty.
Unless foreign governments “significantly increase” the diplomatic and economic costs to Iran, the world “is sending a green light to this carnage”, said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
Amnesty International said Iran was now “preparing to execute” Mahan Sadrat, 22, just a month after his “grossly unfair” trial. He was convicted of drawing a knife in the protests, an accusation he strongly denied in court.
On Saturday, Sadrat was transferred from Greater Tehran Prison to Rajai Shahr prison in the nearby city of Karaj, “sparking concerns that his execution may be carried out imminently”, Amnesty said.
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