Two men whom Iranian authorities accused of belonging to opposition groups were hanged at dawn on Thursday, allegedly for participating in recent anti-government protests. The two were accused of being mohareb, or enemies of God, and with trying to overthrow the Iranian government.
They were identified as Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour. Rahmanipour's lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, told the AFP that she had only met her client once, for a few minutes, and was denied the chance to participate in any of his court hearings. Sotoudeh said Rahmanipour had nothing to do with the post-election protests in Iran and that he confessed to the charges "because of threats against his family," according to Al-Jazeera.
Nine other Iranians have been sentenced to death for participating in opposition protests, according to Al-Arabiya, which cited ISNA.
The White House reacted strongly to the executions. "We see this as a low point in the Islamic Republic's unjust and ruthless crackdown on peaceful dissent. Murdering political prisoners exercising their universal rights will not bring the respect and legitimacy that Iran seeks," spokesman Bill Burton said.
Iran accused Zamani and Rahmanipour of belonging to the Kingdom's Assembly, "an outlawed pro-monarchist group" and the Mujahideen e-Khalq, or People's Mujahideen, an Islamist socialist groups that seeks to overthrow Iran's current regime.
Baqer Moin, an Iranian author and journalist, told Al-Jazeera that the hangings may have been meant to intimidate Green Movement protesters ahead of the upcoming celebration of the 31st anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, which occurs during the first 11 days of February.
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Categories: Human Rights, Iran, Iranian Elections (2009), Politics, Regional News
Tags: Arash Rahmanipour, Ashura, Baqer Moin, Decade of Fajr, Green Movement, Iran, Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, Nasrin Sotoudeh
2 Comments
Iran is going crazy - shame on the leaders who use the name Allah in mockery - may your God be your judge and liberate your country from your evil oppression. The World is watching
Im not a big fan of the Iranain gov in any way shape or form, but Iran is the only Muslim country in the middle east that actually holds presidential elections, yet the west is going crazy against them for trying to restore order in their country.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and jordan govts are the real evil dictators that use torture and murder against anyone who dares to challenge the status quo. But you never see the hypocrite western media reports about the abuses and oppression about these countries. Why is the double standards?? THEY ARE THE PERFECT PUPPETS OF THE WEST
Iran has every right to enrich uranium under the NPT but the hypocritical west uses ruse and deceit to blame the iranian gov for supposedly violating the UN charter without any concrete evidence. We all know how the WMD case against Iraq ended up. The destruction of an entire nation without any reprecussion against the aggressor. Why is it ok for France, China, india, Israel, Pakistan, the US(the only country that used nukes) and England to develop nukes but not Iran?
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The Arab world should start a revolution, a peaceful revolution that is, a la Mahtma Ghandi, that would rid them of the dictators that rule their countries. Otherwise, they would never get out of the dark ages they mired in for centuries.
Justice and democracy for all. Every single Arab country is ruled by ruthless dictators, no exception. Wake up Arabs, you could change the middle east and subsquently the world.
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