Iran issues first known death sentence linked to uprising

Iran issues first known death sentence linke

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November 14, 2022

An Iranian court sentenced an anti-government protester to death for the first time since the alleged police killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September set off the longest-running major demonstrations against Iran’s cleric-led security state.

Protesters have been calling for a change in Iran’s leadership and an end to decades of gender discrimination and state impunity. Iranian authorities have met the protests with violence and demanded harsh punishments for those who take part.

Iran’s revolutionary court handed down the death sentence on Sunday, according to Mizan, the news site of the country’s judiciary. The protester was accused of setting a government building on fire, andcharged with “war against God” and “corruption on earth,” as well as acting against national security.

A separate branch of Iran’s revolutionary courts sentenced five other unnamed defendants to up to 10 years in prison for violating national security and disrupting public order, according to Mizan. The rulings can be appealed.

There is little expectation of fair trials for the detained demonstrators, bystanders and chroniclers of the uprising. The Islamic Republic’s judicial system is stacked against the accused and dominated by Iran’s security services. Rights groups warn these are sham trials, with detainees often forced or tortured into providing false confessions based on made-up evidence.

More than 15,000 Iranians have been arrested and several hundred killed in nearly two months of anti-government protests, the activist news agency Hrana estimates. Iranian authorities, who claim Amini died of preexisting medical conditions, have framed the protests as riots incited by third-party countries to destabilize Iran.

A number of protesters face charges that can carry the death penalty. This includes Toomaj Salehi, a rapper who was arrested after taking part in the protests and releasing music that supported their cause, and Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, the two female Iranian journalists who helped break the story of Amini. Authorities have accused the pair, without evidence, of being CIA agents. They have been held in Tehran’s Evin prison complex — which is notorious for allegations of widespread human rights violations — since late September.