Iran has announced the execution of the first of the protesters arrested and sentenced to death in connection with the protests that have gripped the country for nearly 3 months. Mohsen Shikari, a protester sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court for “enmity against God”, was hanged on Thursday morning, state media reported.
Shikari was accused of being “one of the rioters” who blocked a road in the capital Tehran on September 25 and of stabbing a member of the paramilitary Besij forces.
An activist with the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights said Shikari was found guilty after a “show trial”.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam argued on Twitter that the execution of protesters will continue daily unless Iranian authorities “face immediate international practical consequences.”
The Iranian judiciary has announced that 11 people have so far been sentenced to death in connection with the protests.
Protests erupted in Iran in mid-September over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by morality police for not wearing her headscarf “properly”.
According to the BBC Persian Service, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s courts ruled on the basis of testimony taken under torture, with authorities claiming that Shikari’s first trial took place on November 10 and that he had pleaded guilty to the charges.
Authorities claimed that the protests were instigated by the country’s enemies and ordered security forces to “decisively intervene” against the demonstrators, whom they called “rebels”.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 475 people have been killed and 18,240 detained so far in the protests. In addition, 61 security personnel have reportedly been killed.
