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Protests, strikes, and anti-regime demonstrations continued in Iran over the weekend, following the execution of a 23-year old musician on Thursday for blocking a road and wounding a pro-regime enforcer when participating in a nationwide uprising.
The execution of Mohsen Shekari, who was arrested in September and charged with “waging war against God”, was condemned by activists worldwide.
“The Tehran regime of Ali Khamenei insists a deliberative process led up to his execution a mere few weeks after he was arrested,” wrote Borzou Daragahi in The Independent on Sunday. “But whether a supporter or opponent of capital punishment, the execution of Shekari was beyond any acceptable international or national standards,” he added.
Daragahi’s comments also echoed in the street of Iran. “Why did you hang Mohsen Shekari in violation of your own penal code? You killed a young protester just for blocking a street and injuring a Basij (morality police) agent?” a woman said during protests in Qom on Saturday. “Shame on you! You’ve killed a boy and you are laughing!”
According to Iranian daily news outlet Etemad, a further 24 people are facing the death sentence charged with “waging war against God” after Shekari’s execution.
Since the start of nationwide unrest that followed the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman after being arrested by the morality police for disobeying hijab code, at least 458 people have been killed by the regime forces, according to Iran Human Rights.
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International have collected data on 300 hundred deaths, 44 of which were protestors under the age of 18.
