Iran executed a second prisoner on Monday who was detained and sentenced during nationwide protests against the country’s theocracy.
State television broadcast footage that the country says shows the man stabbing and killing two members of the security forces before fleeing the scene.
The public hanging of Majidreza Rahnavard came less than a month after his alleged stabbings were carried out out of frustration at security forces killing protesters. The short response time shows how quickly Iran is executing those detained at the demonstrations.
Activists said at least a dozen people have already been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings. Nearly 500 people have been killed since the demonstrations began in mid-September, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the protests. Another 18,200 people have been detained.
AT LEAST 24 IN IRAN FACE EXECUTION FOR PARTICIPATION IN PROTESTS
Iran executed a second prisoner on Monday who was detained and sentenced during nationwide protests against the country’s theocracy.
(Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl)
Iran’s Mizan news agency, which reports to the country’s judiciary, said Rahnavard fatally stabbed two members of the security forces and wounded four others on November 17 in the city of Mashhad. The agency said the execution took place on Monday morning in Mashhad.
State television broadcast footage showing a man chasing another around a corner before standing over him and stabbing him after he fell against a parked motorcycle. The same man was also shown stabbing another man immediately after the first attack. The attacker then fled the scene.
Mizan identified the people killed as Basij “students,” paramilitary volunteers under Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. The Basij have been deployed in major cities and have attacked and detained protesters. In many cases, protesters have fought Basij.
A heavily redacted state television report that aired after Rahnavard’s execution showed footage of him in the courtroom saying he began to hate the Basijis after seeing videos on social media of the forces beating and killing the Basijis. protesters.
Mizan’s report alleged that Rahnavard had attempted to flee to a foreign country when he was arrested.
The public hanging of Majidreza Rahnavard came less than a month after his alleged stabbings were carried out out of frustration at security forces killing protesters.
(AP Newsroom)
Mashhad, a holy Shiite city that activists say has been the target of strikes, closed shops amid protests after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died in custody after being detained by Iran’s moral police.
According to Mizan, Rahnavard was convicted in the Mashhad Revolutionary Court. The courts have been criticized internationally for not allowing courts to select their own lawyers or see the evidence against them.
Rahnavard had been convicted on the charge of “moharebeh”, a Farsi word meaning “to make war against God”, which carries the death penalty.
IRAN EXECUTES FIRST PROTESTER SINCE NATIONWIDE DEMONSTRATIONS FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS BEGAN
Students take to the streets in Iran to protest against the country’s theocracy.
(National Council of Resistance of Iran)
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Iran is one of the world’s leading executioners and regularly executes prisoners by hanging.
The country executed the first prisoner arrested during the demonstrations last Thursday.
Amnesty International has said it obtained a document signed by a senior Iranian police commander calling for the execution of a prisoner to be “completed ‘in the shortest possible time’ and for his death sentence to be carried out in public as ‘a touching gesture towards security forces'”.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
