Iran has executed three new people convicted in connection with the protests

Three men sentenced to death in Iran were executed on Friday May 19, the judicial authority announced. Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were found guilty of “moharebeh” (“war against God”) and of possessing a weapon in the city of Isfahan, in the center of the country, on the sidelines of a demonstration after the death of Mahsa Amini. Arrested last November, the three men were sentenced to death in January.

“According to the evidence and the statements of the defendants, the shootings [d’arme à feu] of these three people led to the martyrdom of three members of the security forces”added the information agency of the judicial authority Mizan Online. They were also found guilty of being members of “illegal groups with intent to undermine the security of the country and collusion leading to crimes against internal security”.

According to the Amnesty International report, Iran is one of the countries that executes the most convicts. In 2022, 576 people were executed in the country. In a context of repression of the mobilization born of the death of Mahsa Amini, the NGO denounced the use of capital punishment “as a tool of political repression”. “In a desperate attempt to put an end to the popular uprising, the authorities took the lives of people who had only exercised their right to demonstrate” denounced Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.