Tehran says Majidreza Rahnavard killed two members of security forces; activists warn many more may be put to death by regime as it cracks down on months-long uprising
By JON GAMBRELLToday, 6:55 am
Undated photo of Majidreza Rahnavard, who was executed by Iran on December 12, 2022. (Twitter. Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)
Iran executed a second prisoner on Monday convicted over crimes committed during the nationwide protests challenging the country’s theocracy, publicly hanging him from a construction crane as a gruesome warning to others.
Tehran says Majidreza Rahnavard killed two members of security forces; activists warn many more may be put to death by regime as it cracks down on months-long uprising
The development underscores the speed at which Iran now carries out death sentences handed down for those detained in the demonstrations that the government hopes to put down.
Activists warn that at least a dozen people already have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings. At least 488 people have been killed since the demonstrations began in mid-September, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that’s been monitoring the protests. Another 18,200 people have been detained by authorities.
Rahnavard had been convicted on the charge of “moharebeh,” a Farsi word meaning “waging war against God.” That charge has been levied against others in the decades since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and carries the death penalty.
In the images of his execution, a banner bore a Quranic verse: “Indeed the requital of those who wage war against Allah and His Apostle, and try to cause corruption on the earth, is that they shall be slain or crucified, or shall have their hands and feet cut off from opposite sides, or be banished from the land.”
Executions conducted in public with a crane have been rare in recent years, though Iran used the same manner of hanging to put down unrest following the disputed 2009 presidential election and the Green Movement protests that followed.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-executes...-over-protests/
