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Several protesters in Iran were in imminent danger of execution, human rights groups warned on Sunday.
The nearly three-month protest movement was sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish Iranian who was arrested by morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.
The protests, dubbed “riots” by authorities, are the biggest challenge to the regime since the shah’s ouster in 1979. The protests were crushed, with activists saying the aim was to instill fear in the public.
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Iran on Thursday executed Mohsen Shekari, 23, who was convicted of attacking a member of the security forces. Human rights groups say he accepted a hasty show trial.
Iran’s judiciary says 11 people have been sentenced to death for the protests so far, but activists say about a dozen more face charges that could carry the death penalty.
Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), said that unless foreign governments “significantly increase” Iran’s diplomatic and economic costs, the world “is giving the green light to this carnage.”
Amnesty International said Iran was now “ready to execute” Mahan Sadrat, 22, a month after his “grossly unfair” trial. He was convicted of drawing a knife during the protest, an allegation he vehemently denied in court.
Sadrat was transferred from Greater Tehran Prison to Raja Ishahr Prison in the nearby city of Karaj on Saturday, “raising concerns that his execution may be imminent,” Amnesty International said.
– ‘Exhibition of Judgment’ –
“Like all other condemned prisoners, he was denied access to a lawyer during the interrogation, proceedings and public trial,” said the Oslo-based Iranian human rights group.
Amnesty International warned that the life of Sahand Nourmohammadzadeh, another young man arrested over protests, was also in danger “after a fast-track process that does not resemble a trial”.
He was sentenced to death in November for “removing highway railings and setting fire to trash cans and tires,” the group said.
The same sentence was given to 24-year-old rapper Saman Seyedi, who hails from Iran’s Kurdish minority. His mother begged for his mercy on social media in a video in which she said “my son is an artist, not a thug”.
Iran’s judicial authorities confirmed last month that another dissident rapper, Toomaj Salehi, who has expressed support for anti-government protests, has been charged with “human corruption” and could face the death penalty.
“We fear for the life of the Iranian artist accused of the death penalty,” the UN expert said in a statement, referring to the cases of Sayedi and Salehi.
Amnesty International and the IHR also cited the case of doctor Hamid Gharehasanlou, who was sentenced to death. They say he was tortured in detention and his wife was forced to give evidence against him, which she later tried to retract.
– ‘Infinite contempt’ –
“Protester executions can only be prevented by raising political costs for the Islamic Republic,” said IHR Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, calling for an international response “stronger than ever before.”
The US, EU member states and the UK strongly condemned Shekkari’s execution. German Foreign Minister Annalene Berbock said it showed “infinite contempt for human life”.
Iran summoned the German and British ambassadors again on Friday and Saturday to protest their countries’ actions, marking Tehran’s 15th summoning of foreign envoys in less than three months.
Many activists want the foreign response to go further, even extending diplomatic relations with Iran.
Following widespread international outrage over Sheqari’s execution, Iran said it had exercised restraint in both the response of its security forces and the “proportionality” of the judicial process.
Iran’s use of the death penalty was part of what the IHR said was a crackdown in which security forces killed at least 458 people.
At least 14,000 people were arrested, according to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, two actors and a theater director detained in November for making a video in support of the protest movement have been released on bail, according to local media reports.
“Theater director Hamid Pourazari and actresses Soheila Golestani and Faezeh Aeen were released on Sunday night,” ISNA news agency said.
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