Sham trials intimidate Iran's popular uprising

A prominent cleric on Friday said the death sentence of an Iranian protester involved in anti-government unrest violated sharia law, as President Ebrahim Raisi promised to press on with a crackdown a day after the man’s execution.

On Thursday, Iran hanged Mohsen Shekari, who had been convicted of injuring a security guard with a knife and blocking a street in Tehran, the first such execution after thousands of arrests over the unrest, drawing a chorus of Western condemnation.

Nationwide protests that erupted after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 pose one of the biggest challenges to theocratic rule in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

State media published a video of what it said was Shekari’s confession where he appears with a bruise on his right cheek. He admitted to striking a member of the Basij militia with a knife and to blocking a road with his motorbike alongside one of his friends.

Human rights groups said Shekari was tortured and forced to confess. A video widely shared on social media showed protesters shouting from north Tehran rooftops late into the night “We are all Mohsen” and “Khamenei is a murderer” - in reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Another video showed people lighting candles in front of Shekari’s home late on Friday. Reuters could not immediately verify the videos.

In Geneva, UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Turk called the execution “very troubling and clearly designed to send a chilling effect to the rest of the protesters.” He called on the Iranian authorities to immediately institute a moratorium on the death penalty.

In a Friday prayers sermon, however, hardline cleric Ahmad Khatami thanked “the judiciary for sending the first rioter to the gallows.”

Iran’s foreign ministry rejected Western criticism of rights abuses during the crackdown as meddling in Iran’s internal affairs and in violation of international law.

Amnesty International has said Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 21 people in what it called “sham trials designed to intimidate those participating in the popular uprising that has rocked Iran”.

Germany on Friday condemned the execution, called on Tehran to immediately end its violence against protesters and confirmed it had summoned the Iranian ambassador in Berlin.