Iran sentenced a person to death on Sunday for participating in protests against the country’s theocratic regime that began after the death of young Kurdish Mahsa Amini in September. The news comes on the heels of a series of convictions with different sentences.
According to the portal Mizan News, the sentenced to death would have been accused of disturbing public order and committing a crime against national security after setting fire to a government building. The unidentified person would still have been declared an enemy of God.
Also according to the portal linked to the Judiciary, another 800 people were found guilty of crimes related to the protests, bringing the total number to more than 2,000. Half of those sentenced, many of whom are awaiting sentencing, would be from Tehran.
Most of the accusations say that protesters conspired against national security, carried out propaganda against the Iranian regime, interfered with public order, incited murder, injured security personnel or caused damage to public buildings.
The figures multiply in the provinces. Hormozgan’s judicial chief announced on Sunday that 164 people have been charged and will be sentenced until next Thursday. His Isfahan counterpart said 316 similar cases had been filed, and 12 of them had already been tried.
International human rights organizations say more than 15,000 Iranians have been detained since the protests began, but Iranian officials deny the figure.
Mahsa Amini was 22 years old and died while in the custody of the so-called moral police. She was visiting Tehran with her family and was with her brother at the time of the arrest, which occurred because Amini allegedly was not wearing the Islamic headscarf in the way she is required by law.
Authorities claim she died of a heart condition, but her family disputes the version. Along with activists, she says that Amini was attacked at the police station and, as a result, died. The young woman was Kurdish, an already marginalized minority in the country.
Tehran accuses Western nations of encouraging protesters. Last Friday (11), Iranian Foreign Minister Hosein Amir-Abdolahian told UN Secretary-General António Guterres that “certain Western governments encourage violence and teach protesters how to make Molotov cocktails through social media.”
The diplomat said that this has facilitated violence against the country’s security agents and irrigated the ground for terrorist actions by groups such as the Islamic State (IS) to proliferate.
In its latest report, released on Saturday (12), the NGO Human Rights of Iran, based in Oslo, Norway, said that the country’s police had killed at least 326 people since the protests erupted. The number would include 43 children and 25 women.
The regime’s police and judicial harassment of protesters has also escalated. Iran’s army commander, Kiumars Heydari, said last week that protesters “will have no place in the country” if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei orders a tougher crackdown. “If he so decides, troublemakers will have no place.”
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