Iran's Again Execution Of Protesters In Public, Accused Of Two Security Officers

Protests in Iran. (Wikimedia Commons/Darafsh)

JAKARTA - Iran has carried out its second execution of protesters, as anti-national protests continue to take place due to a wave of public outrage.

Majidreza Rahnavard was publicly hanged in Masyhad on Monday, after being charged with "moharebeh", or hostility towards God, the Mizan court news agency said. It then published a picture of his body hanging from a crane.

He was accused of killing two security officers in the city and trying to escape the country, before his arrest, as reported by The National News December 12.

Activist said Majidreza Rahnavard's mother was allowed to visit her before her death, but was not told she would be executed.

Iran's justice has published detailed accounts and photos of alleged crimes and trials of people arrested during the protests, but has been widely criticized for its legal proceedings, in which doubtful accusations are emphasized with little evidence and without representatives of the accused.

The agency has pledged to try cases related to the protests, in "the shortest possible time."

Meanwhile, detainees were reported to have been tortured to give forced confessions, before the trial closed.

More than 18,000 people have been arrested since anti-government demonstrations began in September, according to estimates from human rights groups. Activists say a dozen more are at risk of being executed.

Previously, Mohsen Shekari, who was accused of injuring a member of Basij's paramilitary forces who led the government's bloody response to the protests, was the first to be executed.

He was hanged on Thursday last week, then buried amid tight security in the capital.

Five people were sentenced to death last week to the death of a Basij member in the western city of Karaj.

About 500 people have been killed in nearly three months of national protests, which Tehran describes as a "crush", which was sparked by the death of a young woman Mahsa Amini in custody, days after she was arrested by the morality police in Tehran.