Iran Carries Out First Execution Linked to Protests After ‘Show Trial’

Iran says it has carried out the first execution linked to huge anti-government protests that have taken place over the last four months.

Protester Mohsen Shekari was hanged on Thursday, state media reported, after being found guilty by a revolutionary court of “waging war against God.”

Amnesty Iran said it was “horrified” by his execution, just three weeks after he was sentenced.

The 23-year-old was convicted of blocking a street in Tehran during protests in September, and wounding a member of the Basij paramilitary force with a knife.

Mahmood Amity-Moghaddam, the director of Norway-based Iran Human Rights, said that Shekari had been found guilty in a “show trial.” 

More than 18,000 people have been arrested and several dozen are believed to have been sentenced to death for their role in the protests, which erupted in September following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Amini died in the custody of the country’s morality police after being arrested for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly, in violation of Iran’s mandatory headscarf laws.

After her death, women-led protests spread to every province in Iran, with protesters demanding greater freedom and women’s rights. Independent observers say that at least 458 people have been killed in the unrest and the brutal government crackdown upon the protests.