According to activists, more than 16 people have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings for their alleged involvement the protests Image Courtesy AP
Tehran: As protests rage across Iran, the government continues to execute people for taking part in the protests.
Two men were executed in Iran on Saturday after being found guilty of killing a paramilitary officer during protests sparked by the custodial death of a young woman named Massa Amini.
According to Iran’s judiciary, the accused protesters had been convicted of killing Ruhollah Ajamian, a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer Basij Force. The incident had reportedly taken place in the city of Karaj outside of Tehran on November 3.
The Basij Force has been deployed in major cities since the unrest began. The members of the paramilitary have reportedly attacked and detained protesters in cities across Iran. In many cases, the protesters have fought back.
“Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, the main perpetrators of the crime that led to the martyrdom of Ruhollah Ajamian, were hanged this morning,” reported judicial news agency Mizan Online.
It wasn’t immediately clear which court heard the two men’s cases. However, Iran’s internationally criticized closed-door Revolutionary Courts have handed down two of the death sentences.
According to activists, more than 16 people have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings for their alleged involvement the protests.
According to Human Rights Activists in Iran – a group that has closely monitored the unrest since the protests began – more than 517 protesters have been killed and over 19,200 people have been arrested. Iranian authorities have not provided an official count of those killed or detained.
The protests began in mid-September, when 22-year-old Amini died after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.
Women have played a leading role in the protests, with many publicly stripping off the compulsory Islamic headscarf, known as the hijab.
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