As Iran's protests enter fourth month, ruthless judiciary dials up executions
As notorious judges lead kangaroo trials and "mock executions", activists are sounding the alarm that the Islamic Republic is using capital punishment as a fear-mongering tool to crush the protest movement.
Iranian authorities aided by notorious judges have started carrying out execution sentences against protesters as demonstrations approach their fourth month and pose one of the most serious challenges to the ruling theocracy in Iran.
To date, two protestors have been executed, eleven are sentenced to death row and six have been slapped with charges that are punishable by a death sentence.
Last Thursday, 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari was hanged pre-dawn in Tehran after being convicted of "waging war on God," which judges saw in his blocking of a road and injuring a pro-government Basij militia member.
Only a few days later, Majid-Reza Rahnavard was executed in the conservative city of Mashhad, where he was found guilty of "killing" two Basij members. With only 23 days between the day of his arrest and the day of his execution, Rahnavard's trial marked one of the speediest in Iran's history and underlined earlier concerns that Iran was refusing to follow due course in the prosecution of dissidents.
