The Supreme Court confirmed the first instance sentence against two protesters “guilty” of killing a security agent. In more than three months of protests, 516 protesters have been killed and more than 19,000 arrested. Two French citizens and one Belgian have been accused of espionage.
Tehran () – New death sentences in connection with the wave of protests unleashed by the murder in mid-September of the 22-year-old Kurdish girl Mahsa Amini at the hands of the moral police, who had arrested her for not wearing correctly the hijab (the Islamic veil). In these hours, the Iranian Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence against two protesters, who had been found guilty in the first instance of killing a security agent. At the same time, the supreme judges rejected three other death sentences imposed for a similar matter and ordered a review of the trial.
Meanwhile, the balance of the repression is progressively worsening: according to data provided on January 2 by the Human Rights Activists Agency (Hrana), in more than 100 days of demonstrations, against which Tehran has used an iron hand, 516 have already died. people, of which 70 were minors. The official number of detainees is 19,204, but it could be higher because in some cases there is no information on citizens who have disappeared.
On the opposite front, 67 members of the security forces and police have reportedly died in recent weeks. The last homicide occurred today and it is about a member of the Pasdaran (Guardians of the revolution) murdered near his house, but according to the first information, the homicide would be related to an attempted robbery that ended in blood.
So far, the magistrates have imposed 13 death sentences, two of which have already been carried out (Majidreza Rahnavard and Mohsen Shekari), while the Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence for four other defendants who are in the corridor of the death awaiting execution. A new trial has been decided for another six convicted in first instance and there is one last case under review.
The use of executions to suppress the protests corresponds to the context of an escalation that began long before the street demonstrations in recent weeks. According to the latest available data for 2021, the Islamic Republic has executed 314 people, a figure that accounts for more than half of all deaths by executioners recorded in the Middle East region during the year.
The Iranian judiciary announced that it has also indicted two French citizens and a Belgian on charges of espionage and attacking national security. The semi-official Student News Network carries the story, but does not provide the names of the defendants and no information about where they are being held pending trial. In recent times the Islamic Republic has repeatedly accused foreign opponents – from Europe and the United States – of fomenting the wave of riots over the death of Mahsa Amini.
