IRAN: 400 people have been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison by courts in and around the Iranian capital on crimes related to recent protests.
Ali Alghasi-Mehr, the head of the judiciary for the Tehran province, claimed that judges had handed down the judgments to “rioters,” a term used by the authorities to describe any demonstrators who oppose Iran’s stringent theocratic government.
Tehran is one of the country’s 31 provinces. Thus, the overall number of prison terms is probably far greater. Since mid-September, more than 14,000 individuals have reportedly been detained nationwide, according to UN human rights experts.
The murder of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian lady who was allegedly beaten into a coma by morality police for wearing her headscarf the incorrect way, catalyzed the movement. However, it has since changed into the largest civil unrest in years as Iranians vent their wrath over years of repression, misogyny committed in the name of religion, and isolation from the rest of the world.
Authorities used force as a response, shooting and assaulting protestors. According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 40 children were among the more than 300 persons who died in the raid.
Iran has shut down the internet to stop the rallies from escalating. It has recently made harsh penalties handed out by its courts public to quell opposition even more, including 11 death sentences, of which two have been carried out.
After a hurried and covert trial, officials hung a 23-year-old man from a construction crane on Monday. Majidreza Rahnavard was charged with the murder of two militiamen who supported the regime. His hands and feet were shackled, and a black bag was placed over his head as he was publicly executed.
The assassination, according to Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, demonstrated that Iran’s judicial system was ineffective, saying, “a tool of repression sending individuals to the gallows to spread fear and exacting revenge on protesters daring to stand up to the status quo”.
The government hung Mohsen Shekari, who had been found guilty of stabbing a security guard last Thursday.
Amnesty thinks that 20 other people are still in danger of being executed for suspected crimes related to the protests. Iranian activists worry that a substantial potential for mass executions exists due to the rapidity with which people are receiving death sentences as well as the return of public hangings, which had decreased in frequency in previous years.
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