Courts in the Iranian capital Tehran and neighboring provinces jailed 400 people on Tuesday in connection with recent anti-government protests, The Guardian reported. Described as “rioters” in official decisions, the convicted protesters received extreme sentences.
“One hundred and sixty people were sentenced to five to 10 years in prison, 80 people to two to five years and 160 people to two years,” said the head of Tehran’s judiciary, Ali Alghasi-Mehr. quoted by Mizan regional news. agency, according to The Guardian.
Another 70 people were fined, the BBC reported.
Nationwide protests erupted after the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested on September 13 for not wearing the correct hijab. Witnesses said she was beaten by officials, sparking outrage against the Islamic Republic’s religious laws, “morality policing” and the treatment of women.
Since then, 490 protesters, including 68 children and 62 security personnel, have been killed, the Human Rights Activists News Agency said. Of the more than 18,200 people arrested in connection with these protests, only 3,780 have been publicly identified.
Iranian officials said in early November that 1,024 people in Tehran had been charged over anti-government protests. The inmates allegedly committed “acts of sabotage,” including “attacking or martyring guards” and “setting fire to public property,” officials said.
Tuesday’s sentences came a day after the government publicly hanged Majidreza Rahnavard, a 23-year-old convicted less than two weeks ago of “enmity against God” for allegedly stabbing two members of the Basij pro-government resistance force.
Last month, the Revolutionary Court in Tehran found 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari. He was executed last week.
Amnesty International told the BBC that Rahnavard’s execution was “a tool of repression” to “spread fear” among potential protesters and that his trial was a farce. The group also said it had identified at least 20 other people at serious risk of imminent execution.
Eleven of these people have already been sentenced to death. Three have been tried and are awaiting the death sentence or have already received it. The other six, including 26-year-old Iranian soccer player Amir Reza Nasr Azadani, are awaiting trial.
World football union FIFPRO “is shocked and disturbed by reports that professional footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani faces execution in Iran after campaigning for women’s rights and fundamental freedoms in his country”. the organization tweeted.
“We stand in solidarity with Amir and demand the immediate revocation of his sentence,” the group added.
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