Iran conducts second execution linked to protests

By Nathan Morley

Iran says it has conducted a second execution linked to the anti-government protests sweeping the country..

Reports from Iran suggest that Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged in public early on Monday.

According to the judiciary, the execution took place in the city of Mashhad. He was accused of stabbing to death two members of the paramilitary Basij Resistance Force. Rahnavard was hanged less than a month after his arrest.

Just last week, Iran executed a prisoner arrested during the ongoing anti-government protests. It was the first known death sentence linked to the unrest which has been sweeping the country. 

That prisoner was identified as Mohsen Shekari, who was accused of injuring a security guard with a machete and blocking a street in Tehran. Rights groups claim Shekari was tortured and forced to confess to his crime.

It is reported that Iranian authorities are pursuing the death penalty for at least 21 people.

Three months into a nationwide uprising, the unrest continues.

The protests erupted in mid-September after the death of Mahsa Amini while she was held in police detention for supposedly violating the country’s hijab law.. Campaigners say she suffered a deadly blow to the head, a claim denied by officials.

Police continue to argue that she died of natural causes, but her family believes that she was exposed to beating and torture.