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Majidreza Rahnavard: Iran carries out second execution over protests


 Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged "in public" early on Monday in the city of Mashhad, the judiciary announced.

A court convicted him of the charge of "enmity against God" after finding he had stabbed to death two members of the paramilitary Basij Resistance Force.

Human rights groups have warned that protesters are being sentenced to death after sham trials with no due process.

"Rahnavard was sentenced to death based on coerced confessions, after a grossly unfair process and a show trial. This crime must be met with serious consequences for the Islamic Republic," tweeted Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Norway-based Iran Human Rights.

"Thousands of detained protesters, and a dozen death sentences already issued. There is a serious risk of mass-execution of protesters," he added.

The first execution took place last Thursday, triggering international condemnation. Mohsen Shekari, 23, was convicted of "enmity against God" after being found to have attacked a Basij member with a machete in Tehran. 

The judiciary's Mizan news agency reported that Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged "in the presence of a group of Mashhadi citizens".

It posted several night-time photographs reportedly showing the execution, including two in which a man could be seen hanging from the cable of a crane.

The opposition activist collective 1500tasvir tweeted that Rahnavard's family was not aware that he was going to be executed and that they were telephoned by an official at 07:00 local time and told: "We have killed your son and buried his body in Behesht-e Reza cemetery. 

Rahnavard was hanged only 23 days after his arrest.

Mizan had previously reported that he was accused of stabbing to death two members of the Basij on a street in Mashhad on 17 November. The Basij is a volunteer force often deployed by Iranian authorities to suppress dissent.

Mashhad's governor alleged at the time that the stabbings took place after a group of "rioters" began "threatening shopkeepers" in an attempt to coerce them to close their shops. When Basij members approached the group, one suddenly attacked them with a knife, he added.

Footage broadcast by state TV after his arrest on 19 November showed Rahnavard blindfolded and with his left arm in a cast. State TV also broadcast what it said was his subsequent "confession" before a Revolutionary Court.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday that her European Union counterparts would agree on Monday a new package of sanctions targeting those responsible for these executions of Majidreza Rahnavard and Mohsen Shekari, including the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) and those filming the "forced confessions" broadcast by state media.

"These executions are a clear attempt to intimidate, not because people have committed crimes but solely because they voice their views on the streets, solely because they, just like us, want to live in freedom," she told reporters.

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