Iran executes first prisoner arrested in ongoing demonstrations
8 December 2022, 06:44
The protests were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the religious police.
Iran says it has carried out the first execution of a prisoner convicted of a crime allegedly committed during its ongoing nationwide demonstrations.
Iran’s Mizan news agency reported the execution, with the man accused of blocking a street and attacking a security force member with a machete in Tehran.
The Mizan news agency, run by the country’s judiciary, identified the executed man as Mohsen Shekari.
It said he had been convicted in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, which typically holds closed-door cases that have been internationally criticised in other cases.
Mizan said Shekari had been arrested on September 25 then convicted on November 20 on the charge of “moharebeh”, a Farsi word meaning “waging war against God”.
That charge has been brought against others in the decades since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and carries the death penalty.
Iran has been rocked by protests since the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by the country’s morality police.
