Majidreza Rahnavard, 23, was publicly hanged on December 12, 2022 in Mashhad (in the east of the country), his hometown. – /AFP
Today, many Iranians wake up scared to see if new executions have taken place. In Iran, they are organized during morning prayers just before sunrise. In the early hours of the morning, 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard were hanged on December 8 and 12 respectively. They were among thousands of protesters who took to the streets across the country following the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16, at the end of her police custody for her veil, which was said to be “heavily worn”.
The first was executed out of sight in Gohardasht prison, 30 kilometers from Tehran. Majidreza Rahnavard was killed in a public square in his hometown of Mashhad in the east of the country. No official notice announced his execution and it seems that the local population was not informed. However, according to photos released by Iranian official authorities, several dozen people were present during the hanging.
Majidreza Rahnavard, 23, during his trial on November 29, 2022. He was hanged on December 12, 2022 in a public square in Mashhad (in the east of the country), his hometown. MIZAN NEWS AGENCY
We see women wearing the chador, the garment that covers the whole body and is worn by the most religious women loyal to the regime. All faces are blurred. Given the very early hour of the hanging, local authorities seem to have invited supporters of the Islamic Republic of Iran through their networks to witness the hanging. In one of the shots, the lifeless body of blindfolded Majidreza Rahnavard hangs on a pole.
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bad treatments
Neither of the two men convicted of “enmity against God” had access to a lawyer of their choice. Mohsen Shekari was killed eighteen days after his conviction at first instance, while those convicted have twenty days under Iran’s Penal Code to appeal. Majidreza Rahnavard was executed seven days before that deadline.
Mohsen Shekari, 23, hanged on December 8, 2022, was filmed confessing to himself. In one of the scenes in this video, which was broadcast on national television a few hours after his hanging, his right cheek shows signs of an injury that may have resulted from ill-treatment during his incarceration. TASNIM NEWS AGENCY
A few hours after the hangings, national television broadcast the two men’s confessions to justify the harshness of the judiciary. Mohsen Shekari appeared and faced the camera: his right cheek bore marks from a wound, evidence to some Iranians that the man was tortured and that the authorities are no longer trying to hide the abuses they reserve for prisoners. Majidreza Rahnavard was filmed blindfolded and his left arm in a cast confessing to killing two members of the Bassidji, the paramilitary militia affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard (the country’s ideological army). According to human rights organizations and former political prisoners, the Islamic Republic of Iran routinely uses torture to extract confessions from prisoners.
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