The court of first instance sentenced the two men to death on 4 December. They were executed on Saturday in Iran after being convicted of killing a paramilitary during protests sparked by the death in custody of a young Kurd, the judiciary agency said.
A protest movement began in Iran after the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurd who died following her arrest by the police for violating the dress code of the Islamic Republic imposing in particular the wearing of the veil in public for women.
“Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, the main perpetrators of the crime that led to the martyrdom of Rouhollah Ajamian, were hanged this morning” on Saturday, Mizan Online reported, referring to a member of the Bassidji militia, linked to the Guardians. of the Revolution, the ideological army of Iran.
14 people already sentenced to death
In France, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs judged this Saturday “revolting” these executions. “The execution of demonstrators cannot take the place of a response to the legitimate aspirations of the Iranian people for freedom”, underlined a press release from the Quai d’Orsay, considering that “these revolting executions are added to the many other serious and unacceptable violations fundamental rights and freedoms committed by the Iranian authorities”.
The European Union is also “dismayed” by this execution, said this Saturday a spokesperson for the head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell.
The EU, which denounces a “new sign of the violent repression of demonstrations”, “once again calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately put an end to the highly reprehensible practice of pronouncing and carrying out death sentences against demonstrators” and to “cancel without delay the recent death sentences already pronounced in the context of the demonstrations”, adds the spokesperson, Nabila Massrali, in a press release.
On January 3, Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of the two men, accusing them of killing Ajamian on November 3 in Karaj, west of Tehran.
Since the beginning of the protest movement, justice has sentenced 14 people to death in connection with the demonstrations, according to an AFP count based on official information. Among them, four have been executed, two have had their sentences confirmed by the Supreme Court, six are awaiting new trials and two others can appeal.
Activists say a dozen other people face charges that carry the death penalty.