PARIS – Iran faced international censure Friday after carrying out its first known execution in response to protests that have rocked the regime for nearly three months, prompting calls for even more protests.
Protests have rocked Iran since the death in detention of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who died in custody in mid-September after being arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict female dress code.
Mohsen Shekari was hung on Thursday after being convicted of obstructing a Tehran street and injuring a paramilitary on September 25 in a legal process that rights organizations called a show trial.
The 23-year-old was arrested after attacking a member of the Basij — a paramilitary organization allied to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — with a machete, resulting in a wound that required 13 stitches, according to the judiciary.
Last month, he was found guilty of “moharebeh,” or “enmity against God,” a deadly penalty in the Islamic republic.
The announcement triggered widespread outrage and warnings from human rights organizations that more hangings were on the way.
Amnesty International was “horrified” by the execution, which came after Shekari was convicted in a “grossly unjust sham trial.”
“His death exposes the inhumanity of Iran’s so-called legal system,” it said, adding that countless others face “the same destiny.”
The director of the Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, has called for a forceful international response to prevent the Islamic republic from carrying out future executions.
“Mohsen Shekari was executed after a hurried and unfair trial in which he was not represented by counsel,” he stated.
Shekari’s body was buried in Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery 24 hours after his death, in the company of a few family members and security authorities, according to the 1500tasvir social media monitor.
His execution has sparked new protests and calls for additional protests.
In a video provided by 1500tasvir, demonstrators came to the street where Shekari was detained, saying, “They took away our Mohsen and brought back his body.”
At a demonstration in Tehran’s Chitgar area, yells of “Death to the dictator” and “Death to Sepah” were heard, referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
His execution has sparked new protests and calls for additional protests.
In a video provided by 1500tasvir, demonstrators came to the street where Shekari was detained, saying, “They took away our Mohsen and brought back his body.”
At a demonstration in Tehran’s Chitgar area, yells of “Death to the dictator” and “Death to Sepah” were heard, referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
It aired terrible video of the moment his family learned the news outside their Tehran home, with a woman doubling up in sorrow and grief, repeatedly yelling the name “Mohsen!” “
Western nations have also expressed their displeasure.
Washington condemned Shekari’s killing as a “dreadful escalation” and vowed to hold the Iranian regime accountable for violence “against its own people.”
Source: AFP
