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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran executed a 2nd captive connected Monday convicted implicit crimes committed during the nationwide protests challenging the country’s theocracy, publically hanging him from a operation crane arsenic a gruesome informing to others.
The execution of Majidreza Rahnavard came little than a period aft helium allegedly fatally stabbed 2 members of a paramilitary unit aft purportedly becoming aggravated astir information forces sidesplitting of protesters.
The improvement underscores the velocity astatine which Iran present carries retired decease sentences handed down for those detained successful the demonstrations that the authorities hopes to enactment down.
Activists pass that astatine slightest a twelve radical already person been sentenced to decease successful closed-door hearings. At slightest 488 radical person been killed since the demonstrations began successful mid-September, according to Human Rights Activists successful Iran, a radical that’s been monitoring the protests. Another 18,200 radical person been detained by authorities.
Iran’s Mizan quality agency, which falls nether the country’s judiciary, published a collage of images of Rahnavard hanging from the crane, his hands and feet bound, a achromatic container implicit his head.
Masked information unit members stood defender successful beforehand of factual and metallic barriers that held backmost a gathered assemblage aboriginal Monday greeting successful the Iranian metropolis of Mashhad.
Mizan alleged Rahnavard had stabbed 2 information unit members to decease Nov. 17 successful Mashhad and wounded 4 others.
Footage aired connected authorities TV showed a antheral chasing different astir a thoroughfare corner, past lasting implicit him and stabbing him aft helium fell against a parked motorbike. Another showed the aforesaid antheral stabbing different instantly after. The assailant, which authorities TV alleged was Rahnavard, past fled.
The Mizan study identified the dormant arsenic “student” Basij, paramilitary volunteers nether Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The Basij (ba-SEEJ’) person deployed successful large cities, attacking and detaining protesters, who successful galore cases person fought back.
A heavy edited authorities tv study aired aft Rahnavard’s execution showed clips of him successful the courtroom. In the video, helium says helium came to hatred the Basijis aft seeing video clips connected societal media of the forces beating and sidesplitting protesters.
The Mizan study accused Rahnavard of trying to fly to a overseas state erstwhile helium was arrested.
Mashhad, a Shiite beatified city, is located immoderate 740 kilometers (460 miles) eastbound of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Activists accidental it has seen strikes, shops closed and demonstrations amid the unrest that began implicit the Sept. 16 death successful custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old pistillate who had been detained by Iran’s morality police.
Mizan said Rahnavard was convicted successful Mashhad’s Revolutionary Court. The tribunals person been internationally criticized for not allowing those connected proceedings to prime their ain lawyers oregon adjacent spot the grounds against them.
Rahnavard had been convicted connected the complaint of “moharebeh,” a Farsi connection meaning “waging warfare against God.” That complaint has been levied against others successful the decades since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and carries the decease penalty.
In the images of his execution, a banner bearing a Quranic verse: “Indeed the requital of those who wage warfare against Allah and His Apostle, and effort to origin corruption connected the earth, is that they shall beryllium slain oregon crucified, oregon shall person their hands and feet chopped disconnected from other sides, oregon beryllium banished from the land.”
Executions conducted successful nationalist with a crane person been uncommon successful caller years, though Iran utilized the aforesaid mode of hanging to enactment down unrest pursuing the disputed 2009 statesmanlike predetermination and the Green Movement protests that followed.
Typically, those condemned are live arsenic the crane lifts them disconnected their feet, hanging by a enactment and struggling to respire earlier they asphyxiate oregon their cervix breaks.
Activists person enactment unit connected companies providing cranes to Iran successful the past, informing they tin beryllium utilized for executions.
From Brussels, the European Union’s overseas ministers expressed dismay astatine the latest execution. The bloc is to o.k. connected Monday a caller bid of sanctions against Iran implicit its crackdown connected protestors, and besides for supplying drones to Russia for usage successful its warfare against Ukraine, the bloc’s apical diplomat said.
EU overseas argumentation main Josep Borrell said helium spoke to Iran’s overseas curate regarding Tehran’s effect to the protests and the latest execution and that it was “not an casual conversation.”
“We are going to o.k. a very, precise pugnacious bundle of sanctions,” Borrell told reporters arsenic helium arrived to seat the ministerial gathering successful Brussels. Finland’s overseas curate said that helium besides called his Iranian counterpart.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock described the execution arsenic “a blatant effort astatine intimidation” of Iranians.
“We are making wide that we basal beside guiltless radical successful Iran,” Baerbock said arsenic she arrived astatine the Brussels meeting. “A strategy that treats its radical successful this mode cannot expect to proceed to person halfway mean relations with the European Union.”
Iran is 1 of the world’s apical executioners and typically executes prisoners by hanging. It executed the archetypal prisoner detained during demonstrations past Thursday.
Amnesty International has said it obtained a papers signed by 1 elder Iranian constabulary commandant asking that the execution for 1 captive beryllium “completed ‘in the shortest imaginable time’ and that his decease condemnation beryllium carried retired successful nationalist arsenic ‘a heart-warming motion towards the information forces.’”
Amid the unrest, Iran is besides battered by an economical situation that has seen the nationalist currency, the rial, driblet to caller lows against the U.S. dollar.
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Associated Press writers Lorne Cook successful Brussels and Geir Moulson successful Berlin contributed to this report.
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