Iran hangs its first mass protester

• Mohsen Shekari was found guilty of “waging war against God”.
• He stabbed a paramilitary officer at a protest in Tehran on September 23.
• Nonprofit rights group requests swift worldwide response.

Iran has executed a man for injuring a paramilitary officer in the first known execution linked to protests that have swept the country since September, state media reported Thursday.

The protester’s name was Mohsen Shekari, according to both the semi-official Tasmin news agency and the judiciary-affiliated Mizan Online. After stabbing a Basij paramilitary at a protest in Tehran on September 23, he was reportedly found guilty of “waging war against God.”

According to Mizan Online, Shekari was given a death sentence on October 23 and was hanged on Thursday morning. It was the first execution associated with the demonstrations that was made public by official media.

An immediate international response to the execution has been requested by Iran Human Rights, a non-profit rights group with members both inside and outside of the nation.

“His execution must be met with the strongest possible terms and international reactions. Otherwise, we will be facing daily executions of protesters who are protesting for their fundamental human rights,” the group’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told Media.

According to Amiry-Moghaddam, Shekari was put to death by the Revolutionary Court after a “show trial” in which he was denied access to a lawyer of his choosing or any sort of due process.

Mohammad Khatami, the former leader of Iran, asked the present administration on Tuesday to be more forgiving toward demonstrators.

The reformist former leader said the government must pay attention to the protesters before it is too late in a message prior to Students’ Day on December 7, which commemorates the anniversary of the 1953 murder of three university students by Iranian police during the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The government has recently been urged to act to listen to demonstrators’ concerns and protect them by other prominent Iranians.

On Tuesday, prominent Iranian Sunni preacher Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi urged the judiciary to look into and prosecute anyone who violates women in prison.

Several Iranians have received death by execution sentences during the nationwide demonstrations that were spurred by the killing of Mahsa Amini, 22, who was killed after being detained by the state’s morality police for reportedly not properly donning her headscarf.

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Her passing struck a chord throughout the Islamic Republic, and well-known public figures, including renowned Iranian performer Taraneh Alidoosti, spoke out in favor of the cause. Since then, the protests have consolidated around a number of complaints against the autocratic government.

According to Amnesty International, the Iranian government is still seeking the death penalty for at least 21 protesters as of November.

The violence has claimed the lives of at least 458 individuals since September, according to Iran Human Rights, a Norwegian organization.

Since exact numbers are impossible for anybody outside the Iranian government to confirm, Media is unable to independently confirm the number of people in Iran who are scheduled for execution, the most recent arrest totals, or the death tolls related to the protests.

Authorities have launched a deadly crackdown in response to the protests, with claims of forced detentions and physical violence being deployed against the nation’s Kurdish minority community.

In a recent investigation, hidden evidence revealed that since the start of the unrest, sexual abuse had been committed against demonstrators in Iran’s jail facilities, including boys.

The protest movement was referred to as “rioters” and “thugs” supported by foreign powers by Iran’s Supreme Leader, who commended the Basij, a branch of the Revolutionary Guard, for its role in the crackdown.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights declared Iran to be in a “full-fledged human rights crisis” in late November and demanded an impartial inquiry of human rights abuses in the nation.

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