Iran has carried out the execution of three individuals accused of murdering two police officers during their involvement in anti-regime protests. The public hanging in the city of Qom included champion wrestler Saleh Mohammadi, aged 19, along with Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi. Mohammadi was sentenced to death within weeks of his arrest in February for the murder of a security agent during protests on January 8, as reported by Amnesty International.
Despite denying the accusation and alleging that his confessions were obtained under duress, Mohammadi’s claims were disregarded by the court without investigation. Ghasemi and Davoudi were also implicated in the killings, with Davoudi facing additional charges for the murder of another policeman on the same day.
The executions, the first officially linked to the protests that began the previous year, were announced by the judiciary’s Mizan Online news agency. The individuals were found guilty of ‘moharebeh’, or ‘waging war against God’, and were executed after being convicted of killing two law enforcement officers.
Iran Human Rights criticized the executions, labeling them as “grossly unfair trials based on coerced confessions extracted under torture.” The organization condemned the deaths as extrajudicial killings intended to instill fear and suppress political dissent.
According to the Norway-based NGO, Mohammadi had recently turned 19, and Davodi was approaching his 22nd birthday. The protests initially sparked in Iran due to economic grievances in late December, evolving into widespread anti-government demonstrations that peaked on January 8 and 9.
Subsequently, Iranian authorities launched a severe crackdown on the protests, alleging they were incited by foreign actors and involved violence and destruction. Tehran acknowledged over 3,000 deaths during the unrest, attributing the violence to “terrorist acts.”
However, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported more than 7,000 fatalities and cautioned that the actual toll might be considerably higher.
