(Paris) Iran was imposed new sanctions on Friday after carrying out the day before a first execution linked to the protest movement violently repressed for nearly three months, leading to new calls for demonstrations.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry says the Islamic Republic is showing ‘maximum restraint in the face of riots’, in response to outrage from Western countries after young man was hanged for involvement in protests .
Iran is facing protests sparked by the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who died after she was arrested by vice squad for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code including wearing the veil. for women.
Executed on Thursday, 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari was sentenced to death for blocking a street and injuring a paramilitary at the start of the protests, following legal proceedings denounced as a show trial by rights NGOs of the person.
The announcement of this execution provoked multiple condemnations abroad, notably from the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as from the UN.
On Friday, the United Kingdom announced that it had sanctioned 30 entities or personalities from 11 countries including Iran, including Iranian officials accused of inflicting “shocking sentences” on anti-regime protesters.
The European Union is preparing to add 20 people and an Iranian entity to its blacklist to sanction human rights violations committed in Iran during the crackdown on protests, diplomatic sources in Brussels said on Friday.
Amnesty International said it was “horrified” by the hanging of Mohsen Shekari, an execution that “highlights the inhumanity” of the Iranian justice system, where “many others risk suffering the same fate”, Amnesty lamented.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), for his part called for a strong international reaction to dissuade the Islamic Republic from carrying out further executions.
For its part, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday evening that Iran had shown “the greatest restraint in the face of the riots”. And “unlike many Western regimes that violently repress even peaceful protesters”, Iran uses “measured riot control methods”, he added.
“Death to the Dictator”
Shekari’s execution sparked further demonstrations and calls for protest. Overnight Thursday-Friday, protesters took to the street where Shekari had been arrested, shouting “They took our Mohsen and brought back his body,” in a video posted by online media 1500tasvir.
During another demonstration in the Chitgar district of Tehran, demonstrators chanted “Death to the dictator” and “Death to Sepah”, in reference to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of Iran.
Hamed Esmaeilion, an Iranian-Canadian activist who has organized mass protests in Berlin, Paris and other cities, announced more rallies over the weekend: “Regardless of beliefs and ideologies, let’s join these rallies to protest the horrific execution of #MohsenShekari,” he tweeted.
Shekari’s execution came with such haste that his family is still waiting to hear the outcome of his appeal, noted 1500tasvir, which released footage presented as the moment his family heard the news of the execution. in front of his house in Tehran. They show a woman repeatedly shouting “Mohsen!” »
According to the IHR, Iranian security forces have killed at least 458 protesters since the start of the protest movement. In the aftermath of Mohsen Shekari’s execution, at least a dozen other people are also at risk of hanging after being sentenced to death for their involvement in the protests, human rights NGOs have warned.