Iran Begins Executions Of Freedom Protesters

 

War criminal Putin's ally Iran has decided to crack down on human rights protesters as a deterrent to further protests.  Their preferred method?  Death sentences:

Iran has sentenced a person to death for taking part in the protests that have engulfed the country since mid-September, the judiciary's news agency said on Monday. The unnamed person was charged with starting a fire at a government building, among other things.

"The international community must strongly warn the Islamic Republic of the consequences of executing protesters," the director of the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, said in a statement on Monday. "Summoning their ambassadors and implementing stronger effective human rights action against state officials are amongst the consequences European countries must consider."

Iran Human Rights said that at least 20 other protesters were currently facing charges punishable by death in the country, and that the Iranian authorities could be planning to carry out a wave of hasty executions. Five other protesters were also sentenced to between five and ten years in prison for participating in the demonstrations, which the Iranian regime refers to as "riots."

The mass protests against the Iranian regime broke out after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran's "morality police." She had been detained for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women. With the slogan #WomanLifeFreedom, the demonstrations initially focused on women's rights, but they have grown into a movement against the conservative Shiite Muslim clerics that have ruled the country since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Iran's leaders have accused foreign governments of instigating the protests and called for harsh sentences to be handed down to "key perpetrators" as a deterrent. According to figures released by Iran's judiciary, more than 2,000 people have already been charged with participating in the unrest.  (our emphasis)

The Islamic fundamentalist madness that has presided over Iran for more than 40 years is being challenged as never before by the protests.  The increasingly draconian measures being taken to suppress the protests will undoubtedly be met with more fierce resistance by those fighting for freedom. 

It's no wonder that Iran and Putin's Russia have found common purpose in attacking and murdering people seeking freedom from their repression.  It's been a catastrophic failure for Putin in Ukraine;  the  final outcome in Iran is still unclear, but with any luck, these events will ultimately lead to the end of that evil regime.

Meanwhile, In Iran ...

 

The Washington Post has a special report on the violence being used against Iranians protesting the brutal theocratic regime and the murder of Mahsa Amini.  Indiscriminate force, violent arrests and restricting the Internet are tools being used by the repressive regime, and the Post provides video evidence (at the link):

Iran’s bold and bracing protests, stretching across an unsettled nation for more than two weeks, have been marked by defiant acts and daring slogans that challenge the country’s clerical leadership and its stifling restrictions on all aspects of social life.

Government security forces have responded with deadly, uncompromising force. At least 52 people have been killed, according to Amnesty International, including women and children.

The ongoing protests began in response to the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who fell into a coma after being detained by the country’s hated “morality police.”

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, claimed Monday that the unrest had been instigated by foreign powers and blamed protesters for the violence: “The ones who attack the police are leaving Iranian citizens defenseless against thugs, robbers and extortionists,” he said.

Khamenei gave his full backing to the security forces, signaling a further wave of repression could be coming.

The report concludes:

Despite the violence by security forces — and the daily blackouts — protesters are still in the streets. To some, the crackdown has only made them more determined. The protester in Tehran recalled a scene from a recent protest, where he and his compatriots dragged trash cans into the street and set them on fire. As security forces approached on motorcycles, they began to chant:

“We didn’t have our people killed in order to compromise.”

The videos are an important record of the violent abuse and killings taking place in Iran. It's, of course, not a coincidence that this murderous regime is aligned with that of war criminal Putin. We can only hope they meet the same fate.