First Known Prisoner Executed in Iran After Protest Arrest

Iran announced Thursday that it had executed a prisoner convicted of a crime purportedly committed amid nationwide protests.

This was Tehran’s first execution of this kind.

The execution occurs at a time when other detainees may also receive the death penalty for their participation in the demonstrations, which started in mid-September initially as a protest against Iran’s morality police.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the protests have become one of Iran’s most significant theocratic problems.

Since at least a dozen people have already been given death sentences for participating in the demonstrations, activists warn that more people may soon follow suit.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of the advocacy group Iran Human Rights, which has its headquarters in Oslo, commented that the execution “must be handled with robust protests or we would be facing daily executions of protestors.”

“This execution must have immediate practical repercussions on a global scale.”

Shekari’s execution was denounced by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in a tweet, who wrote that “the Iranian regime’s contempt for humanity is unlimited.”

The protester who was put to death was identified as Mohsen Shekari by the judiciary-run Mizan news agency in Iran.

It stated that he had been found guilty by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, which frequently hears cases behind closed doors.

The tribunals have drawn criticism from the world for not letting those being tried choose their own attorneys or even see the evidence against them.

Shekari is charged with blocking a street in Tehran and attacking a security force member with a machete so that the victim needed stitches for his injuries, according to the news agency.

According to the Mizan report, Shekari claimed he had been paid money by a friend to attack security personnel.

Without providing any supporting data, the Iranian regime has been attempting for months to claim that foreign nations are to blame for the turmoil.

The collapse of the economy, the militarized police force, and the country’s powerful Islamic clergy, according to protesters, are the causes of their rage.

On the charge of “moharebeh,” a Farsi term that means “waging war against God,” which has been brought against others in the decades after 1979 and carries the death penalty,

Shekari was detained on September 25 and found guilty on November 20.

According to Mizan, Shekari’s attorney was unsuccessful in his appeal of the verdict.

Following his death, Shekari’s trial presided over by Judge Abolghassem Salavati, was shown on Iranian state television in a tightly edited package.

Because of his use of severe penalties, Salavati is subject to U.S. sanctions.

According to the U.S., Salavati has handed out lengthy prison terms and numerous death sentences to more than 100 political prisoners, human rights activists, media personnel, and others trying to exercise their right to freedom of assembly.

Treasury stated in 2019 when it sanctioned him.

Salavati is one of the judges on these Revolutionary Courts who has “served as both judge and prosecutor, denied prisoners access to attorneys, and threatened defendants.”