US alarmed by death sentence, sham trials of protesters in Iran
National security adviser Jake Sullivan warned of consequences if Iran's repression of peaceful protesters continues.
The White House on Monday expressed concerns over reports of mass arrests, sham trials and a recent death sentence issued in Iran, where authorities appear to be escalating their crackdown on the anti-government protest movement.
“The eyes of the world are on Iran,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. “The human rights abuses inflicted by its government must not go without consequence.”
The Norway-based group Iran Human Rights says at least 326 people have been killed by security forces since protests erupted in September over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman detained by the so-called morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict hijab rules.
Iran on Sunday issued its first known death sentence in connection with sweeping protests, the country’s largest since 2009. The Revolutionary Court ordered the execution of an unnamed individual it said set fire to a government building, according to the judiciary's Mizan Online website.
