A thirty-four-year-old man sentenced to death for killing a policeman during the Mahsa Amini protests was executed yesterday in Iran, reported Agence France-Presse, citing a statement from the press office of the Ministry of Justice.
"Gholamreza Rasai was executed this morning in Kermanshah Prison (Western Iran) for fatally stabbing a police colonel during the November 2022 illegal protests,"Mizan Online“ reported.
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Rasai was sentenced to death in October 2023 by the Kermanshah Criminal Court in accordance with Iran's right of revenge law used in murder cases and related to the wishes of the victims' families for the death penalty, Mizan Online noted. ;.
He joined the protests under the title "Woman, life, freedom" (Woman, Life, Freedom) in his hometown of Sahnih, during which security forces agent Nader Bayrami was killed. According to the Tasnim agency, the person killed was the intelligence chief of the Revolutionary Guard unit in the city.
The human rights organization "Amnesty International” wrote on its website that Rasai was sentenced to death after a "grossly unfair trial that relied on his testimony given after torture”.
Ten men have already been executed by hanging after being convicted of links to the protest movement that rocked the Islamic Republic following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022. The young woman was detained for breaching strict dress codes of women.
Hundreds, including members of the security forces, were killed and thousands arrested during the protests, which Iranian authorities said were "riots organized by Western countries”.
This is the first execution since relatively moderate President Massoud Pezeshkian took office. In 2022, he asked the authorities for an explanation about Amini's death, and during his election campaign he made promises for greater protection of the rights of women and minorities.
Meanwhile, a court announced today a reduction in the three-year prison sentence imposed on popular singer Shervin Hajipour, whose song “Because“ (Baraye) became the anthem of the protests.