Iran said today that it has executed the second prisoner detained in a wave of anti-government protests, reported the Mizan agency of the Iranian Judicial Authority.
The executed man was identified as Majidreza Rahnavard, accused of stabbing to death two members of the security forces and wounding four, on 17 November, in Mashhad, in the northeast of the country, added Mizan.
On Thursday, Iran executed the first prisoner arrested at the demonstrations.
At least two dozen Iranian protesters face possible execution as the authorities’ response to their participation in anti-government protests, according to a report published on Saturday by local newspaper Etemad.
The publication made known a list prepared by the Iranian authorities in which 25 protesters are accused of “waging a war against God”, an accusation that, under Iranian law, is punishable by death.
On the list of 25 accused is rapper Mohsen Shekari, the first protester to be executed on Thursday morning, accused of assaulting a security guard with a gun, inciting terror and blocking a highway.
Shekari’s death drew strong condemnation at home and abroad, although Iranian political leaders, including President Ebrahim Raisi, described the execution as a legitimate response to unrest across the country.
Protesters threatened to act in response and spread the message on social media: “wait for our revenge”. Meanwhile, at the international level, the Iranian population has also announced new anti-government protests.
Iran has been the scene of protests since mid-September, when Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman, died in police custody after being detained for not wearing the headscarf properly and violating Islamic dress codes.
Since then, protests have been violently repressed by the authorities, who have gained new sanctions imposed by the international community for issues related to Human Rights.
However, Tehran considers that the majority of Iranians support the government and accuses the country’s enemies and mercenaries of being behind the massive protests.
In nearly three months of protests, more than 500 people have died and at least 15,000 have been arrested, according to the non-governmental organization (NGO) Iran Human Rights.
For their part, the Iranian authorities estimated the death toll at 300, 50 of whom were members of the country’s security forces.
After almost three months of social protest, the dissolution of the morality police, responsible for the arrest and death of Amini, was announced, without which this announcement did not calm the situation.
But the disappearance of patrols from that police force did not mean the end of laws that impose the obligatory wearing of the headscarf and other strict social norms in the country.
Everything seems to indicate that only the methods used to ensure compliance with such laws will change, whose infractions, such as “the misuse of the hijab” [Islamic veil], will now be punished with fines and up to two months in prison.
*With Lusa
