Iran executed a second prisoner on Monday who was arrested and sentenced during nationwide protests against the country’s theocracy.
The footage was broadcast on state television which, according to the country, shows the man stabbing and killing two members of the security forces before fleeing the scene.
The public hanging of Majidreza Rahnavard came less than a month after his alleged stabbings were carried out in frustration over security forces killing protesters. The brief turnaround shows how quickly Iran is executing detainees during demonstrations.
Activists said at least a dozen people have already been sentenced to death in closed hearings. Nearly 500 people have been killed since demonstrations began in mid-September, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the protests. Another 18,200 people were arrested.
AT LEAST 24 IN IRAN AT RISK OF EXECUTION FOR INVOLVEMENT IN PROTESTS
Iran executed a second prisoner on Monday who was arrested and sentenced during nationwide protests against the country’s theocracy.
(Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl)
Iran’s Mizan News Agency, which is under the country’s judiciary, said Rahnavard fatally stabbed two members of the security forces and wounded four others on Nov. 17 in the city of Mashhad. The agency said the execution was carried out on Monday morning in Mashhad.
State TV aired footage showing a man chasing another around a street corner before running over and stabbing him after he fell into a parked motorcycle. The same man was also shown stabbing another man immediately after the first attack. The attacker then fled the scene.
Mizan identified those killed as Basij “students”, paramilitary volunteers under the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The Basij deployed in major cities and attacked and arrested protesters. In many cases the protesters reacted to the Basij.
A heavily edited state television report that aired after Rahnavard’s execution showed footage of him in the courtroom saying he had grown to hate the Basijis after seeing social media videos of the forces beating and killing the protesters.
The Mizan report stated that Rahnavard had attempted to flee to a foreign country when he was arrested.
The public hanging of Majidreza Rahnavard came less than a month after his alleged stabbings were carried out in frustration over security forces killing protesters.
(AP editorial staff)
Mashhad, a Shia holy city according to activists, has been the target of strikes, shops closed during demonstrations after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died in custody after being arrested by Iran’s morality police.
According to Mizan, Rahnavard was sentenced by the Mashhad Revolutionary Court. Courts have been criticized internationally for not allowing those on trial to select their own lawyers or see the evidence against them.
Rahnavard had been convicted on charges of “moharebeh”, a Farsi word meaning “to wage war against God”, which carries the death penalty.
IRAN EXECUTES FIRST PROTESTANT SINCE NATIONAL WOMEN’S RIGHTS DEMONSTRATIONS START
Students take to the streets in Iran to protest the country’s theocracy.
(National Council of Resistance of Iran)
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Iran is one of the best executioners in the world and typically executes prisoners by hanging.
The country executed the first prisoner arrested during demonstrations on Thursday.
Amnesty International said it had obtained a document signed by a senior Iranian police commander demanding that the execution of a prisoner be “completed ‘as quickly as possible’ and that his death sentence be carried out in public as ‘a heart-warming gesture to the security forces.'”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
