The Islamic Republic of Iran announced on Saturday that it has executed two further protesters in relation to the ongoing nationwide protests sparked by the September death of Iranian Kurdish woman Jîna Mahsa Amini.
Including the latest executions, Iran has hanged four protestors so far, and is holding 100 more on death row, according to a December report by Iran Human Rights (IHR).
An Iranian court convicted two men, Mohammad Mehdi Karami (22) and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini (39), of killing a paramilitary Basij force member during protests in early December. The Iranian supreme court upheld the death sentences on Tuesday.
Karami and Hosseini did not have the right to choose their own lawyers for their trials because Iran’s laws allow those on trial for crimes against national security to be represented in court only by lawyers that have the endorsement of the chief justice, according to Iran International.
Almost all arrested protesters are on trial for national security reasons. The courts in Iran are using the death penalty to try to crush the ongoing protests in the country, according to the Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
Iran hanged two protesters, Mohsen Shekari (23) and Majidreza Rahnavard (23), in December 2022.