He was hanged this morning, before dawn, before prayers. Mohsen Shekari, 23, is the first protester to be executed in Iran. This was announced by the judiciary of the Islamic Republic itself. The court found him guilty of “enmity against God,” a charge that carries the death penalty. Shekari had been accused of being an insurgent for having participated in the protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman killed by the morality police in Tehran because she “didn’t wear the hijab well”.
On September 25, Mohsen Shekari had blocked a main road in Tehran “with the intention of creating terror and killing”, according to the allegations, “pulled out a knife and intentionally wounded a member of the Basij paramilitary forces”. The judiciary said the hearing was held on Nov. 10 and the defendant confessed to his charges, but activists denounce a “show sentence without due process”.
Iran, protester hanged: TV shows sentencing hearing, but Human Rights “‘Show trial’
The Supreme Court of Iran considered that the demonstrator’s actions were an “example of hypocrisy”, and for the sentence they relied on alleged statements by witnesses of the incident, who allegedly ensured that those present were very frightened by the presence of the armed protester.
Appeal to Iran, let’s save Fahimeh: from Abbado to Zingaretti, more than 12,000 signatures
“Mohsen Shekari’s execution must be met with STRONG international reactions, or we will see daily executions of protesters,” Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, wrote on Twitter. “The Iranian authorities face swift practical consequences at the international level.”
Iran Human Rights also denounced that two other young Iranian protesters were taken to solitary confinement, where prisoners are kept before the execution of the death penalty: Saman Seydi and Mohammad Boroghani.
Khamenei’s sister accuses her brother: “I stand with the grieving mothers and Iranian women. Revolutionary Guards and Ali Khamenei’s mercenaries lay down their arms and join the people, before it’s too late.”
Badri Hossein Khamenei
So far at least 475 protesters have been killed and 18,240 arrested, according to Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), and 11 people have been sentenced to death in connection with the protests. According to the spokesman for Amnesty International Italy, Riccardo Noury, around thirty people risk hanging.