In Iran, two men were hung for allegedly murdering a member of the military amid widespread demonstrations.
Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini were convicted guilty of "earthly corruption" in connection with the killing of a paramilitary officer. Human rights organizations have condemned the "fake" trial. Mr. Karami's family claims they were not allowed to meet him before he was slain. Prosecutors stated that a group of mourners paying their condolences to a recently deceased demonstrator stripped nude and killed paramilitary officer Ruhollah Ajamian. Protests against Iran's religious establishment erupted in September after the death in detention of a woman held by morality police for reportedly "improperly" wearing her hijab or headscarf.
According to the foreign-based Human Rights Activists' News Agency, at least 516 demonstrators have been murdered, including 70 children, and 19,262 others have been detained (HRANA). It further said that 68 security men were killed. Many of those seized during demonstrations have allegedly faced enforced disappearance, incommunicado imprisonment, torture, and other ill-treatment. The guys were condemned to die in December 2022, but they appealed because they claimed they were tortured into making false confessions. Mr. Hosseini's lawyers claim he was abused and blinded in jail.
"He was tasered and beaten with a metal rod on the soles of his feet," Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani claimed.
On January 3, Iran's Supreme Court affirmed the sentence.
Mr. Karami's counsel said prior to his death that he was on a hunger strike because he had been denied the ability to pick his own lawyer for the legal processes. Instead, he used state-appointed lawyers. According to Amnesty International, the trial is a "hurried and unjust group trial," and Iranian officials are pursuing the death sentence for at least 26 people. In the same case, three other individuals were condemned to death, while 11 others were sentenced to jail. The most recent executions raise the total number of persons executed in Iran since December to four.
Majidreza Rahnavard, 23, was publicly hung from a crane in December for reportedly murdering two members of the security forces with a knife and wounding four others, while Mohsen Shekari, 23, was slain for allegedly blocking a roadway and wounding a member of Iran's Basij militia with a knife.
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