Iran executes 3 men over violence during last year’s anti-government protests

Iran executed three people on Friday over recent protests, the country’s judiciary said on Twitter.

Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were executed in the central city of Isfahan, he said.

They are linked to the deaths of two members of the Basij paramilitary force and a law enforcement officer in November during nationwide protests.

Human rights groups say the three were tortured, forced to confess on television and denied due process.

The protests erupted last September after the death of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly violating the strict Islamic dress code.

The demonstrations quickly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the theocracy that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The demonstrations have largely subsided in recent months, although there have still been sporadic actions, including the refusal of many women to wear the hijab, the Islamic headscarf that is legally required in Iran.

Prisoners are tortured, rights groups say

Iran has executed a total of seven people in connection with the protests. Rights groups say they and several other people who have been sentenced to death were convicted by secret state security courts and denied the right to defend themselves.

“Prosecutors relied on coerced ‘confessions’, and the indictment is full of irregularities that suggest this is a politically motivated case,” Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, said of the three. performed on Friday.

The group said Kazemi had called relatives and accused authorities of torturing him by torturing his legs, using stun guns and threatening him with sexual assault.

London-based Amnesty International also criticized the case.

‘Don’t let them kill us’

“The appalling way in which the protesters were tried and punished was fast-tracked through the Iranian judicial system amid the use of tortured ‘confessions’, serious procedural flaws and a lack of evidence as another example of the Iranian authorities’ disregard for the right to life. and a fair trial,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

The US State Department on Thursday urged Iran not to execute the three men.

The three men on Wednesday appealed to the public for support with handwritten notes saying, “Don’t kill us.”