Iran, which has already executed four people who took part in protests in recent months, sentenced three more to death on Monday on charges of “making war on God.”
The three men, Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeid Yaghoubi, were accused of killing members of the Basij militia, a paramilitary group affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Two men were hanged on Saturday, while two others were executed in December.
Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the moral police last month, in Tehran, Thursday, October 27, 2022.
(AP Images/Middle East, File)
US officials and other Western nations have accused Iran of sentencing suspects in kangaroo courts and rushing to carry out their executions.
“These executions are a key component of the regime’s effort to suppress protests,” State Department spokesman Ned Price tweeted on Saturday. “We continue to work with partners to seek accountability for Iran’s brutal crackdown.”
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Protests erupted across Iran in September after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s so-called moral police.
At least 519 protesters have been killed and nearly 20,000 arrested in the past three months, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has monitored the protests.
In this photo taken by a non-Associated Press employee and obtained by AP outside Iran, students at Sharif University of Technology attend a protest sparked by the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini under the custody of the moral police of the country.
(AP Photo)
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Pope Francis condemned the executions on Monday, saying in his New Year’s address that the death penalty “only fuels a thirst for revenge.”
“The right to life is also threatened in those places where the death penalty continues to be imposed, as is the case these days in Iran, after the recent demonstrations demanding greater respect for the dignity of women,” he said. Pope Francis this Monday.
Reuters contributed to this report.
