THE Will executed two men on Saturday, according to state-affiliated Fars News, bringing the total number of people executed in relation to the protests that have swept the country since September 2022 to four.
Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini were hanged on Saturday morning, Fars News reported. The pair, who allegedly took part in anti-regime protests last year, were convicted of the murder of Seyed Ruhollah Ajamian, a member of the country’s Basij paramilitary force, in Karaj on Nov. 3, according to the Iranian judicial news agency Mizan.
Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a lawyer defending Karami, posted on Twitter on Saturday saying Karami was not given final rights to speak to his family before his execution. The lawyer added that Karami started a hunger strike on Wednesday (4) as a form of protest against the authorities for not allowing Aghasi to represent him.
In December, Karami’s parents took to social media begging for her life. “Please, I beg you to withdraw the execution order from my son’s file,” said the 21-year-old karate champion’s father.
Another 41 protesters were sentenced to death in Iran, according to statements by Iranian officials and in Iranian media analyzed by CNN and 1500Tasvir, but the number can be much higher.
Meanwhile, the political editor of the independent Iranian newspaper Etemad Online, Mehdi Beyk, was arrested on Thursday (5), according to a tweet from the publication. The arrest comes amid a crackdown by Iranian authorities following protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last year after she was detained by state morality police for allegedly not wearing the hijab properly. Since then, protests have coalesced around a series of grievances against the authoritarian regime.
Beyk was detained by Iranian Information Ministry officials, his wife, Zahra Beyk, said on Friday.
He was arrested after “interviewing the families of several of those arrested in the ongoing demonstrations,” according to the pro-reform activist newspaper IranWire.
“The journalist’s cell phone, laptop and belongings were confiscated,” his wife wrote on Twitter. It is unclear at this point why Beyk was arrested.
Iranian authorities have already arrested some individuals for their criticism of the government’s response to the demonstrations.
One of Iran’s best-known actresses, Taraneh Alidoosti, was released on bail on Wednesday, state-aligned ISNA said after she was arrested after criticizing the execution of a protester.
Known as a feminist activist, Alidoosti last month posted a photo of herself on Instagram without the Islamic hijab and holding a sign reading “Women, Life, Freedom” to show support for the protest movement.
Alidoosti was not formally charged, but was initially arrested for “lack of evidence for her allegations” in relation to her protest against the hanging of Mohsen Shekari last month, in the first known execution linked to the protests.
Source: CNN Brasil
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