Cartoon by Reza Aghili

Two More Men Executed in Iran in Connection with Protests, Others at Imminent Risk

Center for Human Rights in Iran:  The hanging in Iran today of two men who were arrested in connection with street protests, Mohammad Mehdi Karami, 22, and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, 39, is an escalation of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s use of lethal force to crush dissent that should be urgently addressed by the international community, said the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

“These men weren’t executed after a judicial process, they were lynched,” said CHRI Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi.

“From the moment they were arrested, they were considered guilty with no chance of being proven innocent because the cases against them were politically motivated,” he added. “The Islamic Republic is using executions and lethal force against street protesters to instill terror in the hearts of the population to crush the Iranian people’s hopes and calls for change.”

“It’s long past due for countries that maintain relations with Iran to withdraw their ambassadors and demand a moratorium on executions as well as the state’s use of violence to crush peaceful dissent,” said Ghaemi.

Two other men arrested in connection with the protests that have swept Iran since September, Moshen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, were hanged in December. They were both just 23 years old.

Fourteen others have been sentenced to death and are at imminent risk of execution, including Mohammad Boroughani, 19, and Mohammad Ghobadlou, 22, while more than 40 are facing charges that could carry the death penalty, according to a list compiled by CHRI.

Deemed “Guilty” with No Chance of Being Proven Innocent

Before he was executed, Karami, a semi-professional karate champion from a working-class family, had been on a hunger strike for four days to demand access to his lawyer.

“They told us we can appeal the sentence,” said Karami’s father in an interview with the Etemad news site last month. “For a week I’ve been calling the lawyer who has been appointed by the judiciary, but he hasn’t answered. This lawyer hasn’t even given me his office address…”

The journalist who interviewed Karami’s parents, Mehdi Beyk, was later arrested for doing his job and remained in detention at the time of this writing.

Karami’s chosen lawyer, who was blocked from representing his client in court, had tweeted that he was going to seek an appeal of the sentence if the judiciary had accepted his representation.

The lawyer added that the family was not allowed to see Karami to say goodbye before he was hanged >>>