Iran: another death sentence carried out connected to protests

Iran carried out another death sentence on Monday connected to the protests that have taken place in the country since mid-September following the killing of Mahsa Amini in police custody.

According to Mizan news agency, the authorities executed Majidreza Rahnvard in public in the city of Mashhad. He had been charged with killing two members of the Basij forces during his participation in the demonstrations, and was executed just 23 days after his arrest. Iran International news agency quoted sources as saying that Rahnvard did not have the opportunity to hire a lawyer, nor was he given an opportunity to defend himself in court.

The Iranian authorities carried out the first execution connected to the protests four days ago, when Mohsen Shakari was killed. In northern Iran, students at Damghan University hung nooses from university trees to protest against the execution.

Fears have now grown about the possibility that Mahan Sadrat Marni may be executed for being a “fighter”. Marni’s lawyer, Abbas Mousavi, expressed his hope that the head of the judiciary will stop the implementation of the sentence.

According to Mousavi, Marni was not a fighter because he did not possess any weapons. The sentence issued by the Revolutionary Court was based on a complaint from two people, both of whom have explicitly withdrawn it.

Meanwhile, an Iranian university student’s death in a fire that broke out inside the Chemistry Faculty at the University of Isfahan has sparked widespread protests in other universities across the country. Students have been quoted as saying that they had warned many times that the laboratory where the fire broke out was unsafe. They placed flowers on the college stairs in memory of Hossein Moradi, the student who lost his life in the fire.

READ: Iran summons British, German envoys for ‘meddling’ after 1st execution