Second Iranian detainee executed over anti-government protests: Report
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Hashim Sheikh
- . December 12, 2022
- . Update: December 12, 2022 7:59 pm
The Islamic Republic of Iran said it executed its second detained Iranian protester amid ongoing anti-government and anti-hijab demonstrations, which are now challenging the country’s government.
Iran’s Mizan news agency said that the man was Majidreza Rahnavard, who was convicted over allegedly stabbing two Iranian security force members to death. Footage on state television showed Rahnavard stabbing them to death and running away.
Iran’s Mizan news agency said that Rahnavard stabbed them on November 17 in Mashhad, a city in northeast Iran. According to the Iranian judiciary, Rahnavard also wounded four other members.
Rahnavard had been convicted in Mashhad’s Revolutionary Court on the charge of “moharebeh” (war against God).
Iran executed the first detained protester on Thursday. The man, identified as Mohsen Shekari, was also found guilty of committing “moharebeh.”
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Human rights activists have warned that other detained prisoners could also be put to death in the future. They expressed concern about these two executions. They claimed that many other people have also received death sentences over their involvement in the recent demonstrations.
The anti-government and anti-hijab protests which began mid-September after the death of a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of Iranian morality police have expanded into one of the greatest challenges to the Iranian regime since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Amini was reportedly arrested on September 13 for allegedly wearing a loose hijab. She died on September 16 at a hospital in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Activists said that Amini was beaten into a coma by Iran’s controversial morality police. Subsequently, huge protests erupted across the Islamic nation that ignited the boldest challenge to the clerical rulers.
Recently, The Guardian reported that Iranian security forces targeted women in anti-government protests by shooting at their faces, breasts and genitals. Human rights activists showed concern about this report.
