Prominent Ayatollah In Iran Condemns Execution Of Protesters

As the three-month-old unrest churned on with street marches in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, outspoken Sunni cleric Mowlavi Abdolhamid criticized the death sentences handed out to the arrested protesters.

"We compassionately recommend that you release the recent prisoners who were detained during these protests and not treat them harshly. Most of them are young and very young. Free the young men and women," Abdolhamid said. 

"Don't charge them with (capital offences), and if they are, they should not be sentenced to death and put to death," the cleric said in a Friday prayers sermon.

After the sermon, demonstrators took to the streets of Zahedan, capital of the impoverished Sistan-Baluchistan province in the southeast. "This nation wants freedom, it wants a prosperous country!" they chanted, in videos posted on social media. 

Earlier in the day, Amnesty International said 26 individuals faced possible execution after the Islamic Republic hanged two people arrested over the protests that erupted after the death in police custody of young Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on September 16.

“At least 26 people are at great risk of execution in connection with nationwide protests after Iranian authorities arbitrarily executed two individuals following grossly unfair sham trials in a bid to instill fear among the public and end protests,” Amnesty said in a statement. "Of the 26, at least 11 are sentenced to death and 15 are charged with capital offences and awaiting or undergoing trials," it added.

The 26 individuals have all been denied fair trials, including the rights to adequate defense and access to lawyers of their choosing; to be presumed innocent; to remain silent; and to receive a fair, public hearing, the statement read. According to information available to Amnesty International, at least 10 of them, including Hamid GhareHasanlou, Toomaj Salehi and Mohammad Ghobadlou were tortured, and authorities used their torture-tainted “confessions” or those of others as evidence. State media also broadcast forced “confessions” of several defendants prior to their trials.

The rallies continued in other parts of Iran, as unidentified attackers damaged a mosque in western Lorestan province early on Friday by throwing petrol bombs. 

According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), 495 protesters have been killed as of Thursday, including 68 minors. Sixty-two members of the security forces have also been killed. It said more than 18,400 are estimated to have been arrested. 

Protests against the Islamic Republic were also held Friday in several cities across Europe as well as Australia and New Zealand. 

International measures against the regime are also growing. On Wednesday, the Islamic Republic was ousted from a United Nations women's commission for policies contrary to the rights of women and girls, a move proposed by the United States. 

The move was the first time in United Nations history that a country was expelled from the commission, and the second blow to the Islamic Republic over its brutal crackdown on protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in custody of hijab police. The first step to hold the Islamic Republic accountable was creating a fact-finding mission by the Human Rights Council. The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council voted on November 24 to launch an independent investigation into the regime’s deadly repression.

Iranian Australians also held a protest in Brisbane outside the regional parliament of Queensland. The crowd sand protest songs and displayed photographs of civilians killed by government forces since September, when nationwide protests began after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini who was arrested for ‘improper hijab’.

In Europe, Iranians gathered in Stockholm and Frankfurt demanding freedom for imprisoned journalists in Iran and urging European countries to cut ties with the Islamic Republic.

Iranians who have settled in Europe hold regular protests for three months. The community in Stockholm is one of the most active. Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billström visited the rally expressing support for rights of protesters in Iran and condemning the execution of young people by the clerical regime.

Iranians in Frankfurt gathered outside Islamic Republic’s consulate demanding that Germany expel all regime diplomats. A group of protesters have camped at the location for the past 24 days and have gone on a hunger strike. German media covered the Frankfurt rally.

The Italian Senate in Rome was the venue of a conference Friday in support of protesters in Iran, with the participation of Italian Iranians. The foreign affairs committee of the Italian Senate was the organizer of the event to hear the views of the Iranian community.

Iranian in Britain had held rallies and protests on Thursday in Newcastle, Birmingham, Glasgow and London.

On Thursday, a protester, identified as Aida Rostami, was announced dead by the regime. She was a physician who was arrested because she was treating injured protesters at their homes. Her body showed signs of torture, with one of her eyes removed and half of her face crushed. The regime says she was killed in a car accident.

For many people the sound of morning azan (Adhan), the call for prayers in Islam, is now associated with the execution of their fellow compatriots as the Islamic Republic tends to hang them first thing in the morning.

Iranians have been holding protests for three months now, after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini convulsed the country into its boldest protest movement. Since the beginning in mid-September, people were protesting against the regime, demanding fundamental freedoms. In the following weeks, people also started protesting the bloody crackdown on dissent that has resulted in the deaths of about 500 people, including 60 children. But in recent weeks, the main issue added to the discourse of the protesters -- and their supporters from all over the globe – is the execution of people arrested in the protests.

Every day the regime is killing more protesters on streets or handing them harsh prison sentences, but such brutalities do not intimidate many, as intended. 

Another protester, 22-year-old Donya Farhadi, was a university student from Ahvaz, and was arrested during protests several days ago. On Thursday, her body was found in Karoun river, while there are reports that she was tortured to death. 

Even when the regime releases a protester and people gather to celebrate, the gathering soon morphs into an antigovernment demonstration, as was the case for Sonia Sharifi, a 16-year-old girl who had been arrested during rallies in Abdanan, located in the south of Ilam province who was released on Thursday. 

On Friday, people in the capital Tehran held a gathering at the city’s cemetery for the 40th day after the death of Ali Rouzbahani. His brother said at the gathering that he stood against the regime's bullets because he knew he was supported by all the people. "We are not afraid of your guns and bullets. It doesn't matter whether you kill in Tehran, Kordestan, Khuzestan or Zahedan," he said. 

Also on Friday, residents of several cities in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan poured into streets after prayers, chanting slogans against the regime. Since the Islamic Republic has started executing protesters, a new term has found its way to peoples’ slogans, roughly translated into the “Islamic Republic of execution.” People in the cities of Rask, Zahedan, and several other cities of the province held rallies, calling for an end to death sentences and hangings.

Penny Wong, Mélanie Joly and Nanaia Mahuta said in the statement Friday that a dark chapter in Iran’s recent history unfolds and “we are responding in defense of all of its citizens.”

The Iranian regime’s brutality against its own people, in particular its women and girls, is unrelenting, and the situation is only worsening, they said.

“Iran’s security forces persist with draconian methods to ruthlessly suppress peaceful protestors, including the use of lethal force and senseless violence against women and children. Hundreds have lost their lives and thousands languish in detention, among them an unknown number of children,” reads the statement.

The ministers said we are appalled by Iran's execution of protestors since December 8.

“Nothing can justify these shameful actions. We oppose the death penalty in all circumstances for all people, everywhere.”

They called on the regime to immediately establish a moratorium to halt all executions and to end this brutal and inhumane punishment.

“The Iranian regime’s violence must end, and there must be justice and accountability for the countless, egregious human rights violations committed since the outbreak of protests,” stressed the foreign ministers.

Iran has executed two prisoners on charges of injuring and killing security forces. Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard both were detained during anti-government protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in mid-September.

Demonstrations and protest gatherings of Iranians abroad have increased in the past days, while the international community has intensified pressure on the Islamic Republic for to its brutal crackdown on protesters.

San Francisco, Sacramento, Rome, Hamburg, and London were among the cities where Iranian diaspora communities held gatherings on Wednesday and Thursday.

In Australia, hundreds gathered in front of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic in Canberra, in protest at the execution of two protesters and the deadly crackdown by security forces.

The demonstrators chanted slogans against the Islamic Republic and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei demanding the cancellation of death sentences and execution of the detainees.

The Australian government also stressed its support for the Iranian protesters, and the country's Foreign Minister Penny Wong welcomed the removal of the Islamic Republic from the UN Commission on the Status of Women due to severe violations of human rights and oppression of women and girls.

On Tuesday, Berlin's Brandenburg Gate was also illuminated with the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” in a show of solidarity with protesters in Iran.

“It is an important sign of solidarity that we are standing here together at the Brandenburg Gate, at the landmark, the Berlin symbol of freedom, and that we are making clear: woman, life, freedom,” said Franziska Giffey, Governing Mayor of Berlin.