New protester executed in Iran

Iran's execution on Tuesday of a ninth young man, Mohammad Ghobadlou, for the 2022 protests has angered Iranians and rights groups, who call it “state-murder”.

“Mohammad Ghobadlu’s execution is an extrajudicial killing according to international law and the Islamic Republic’s own laws,” Mahmoud Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR NGO) said about the execution.

While demanding Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and its judiciary to be held accountable for the execution, Amiry-Moghaddam urged the international community and countries with diplomatic relations with Iran to condemn the hanging in the strongest terms and “stop further executions by raising the political cost of executions through effective action.”

Center for Human Rights in Iran, another Iranian rights organization which is based in New York, also called Ghobadlou’s execution a state-sanctioned murder and urged the fact-finding mission mandated by the United nations over Iran's human rights violations to investigate its dimensions.

"The head of the judiciary must stop the arbitrary execution of Mohamed Ghobadlou, suddenly and unlawfully scheduled for tomorrow. The case of this young man with a disability arrested in connection with the 2022 protests has been marred by torture and secretive proceedings,” Amnesty International tweeted hours before the execution.

Despite Ghobadlu's sentence being overturned by Iran’s Supreme Court last year, his execution has pushed many to call for a total rejection of the clerical regime. Kaveh Shahrooz, a lawyer and activist tweeted, “No reforms. No deals. No negotiations. Only revolution. Death to the Islamic Republic.”

Others went further, calling for revenge against the rulers once there is a regime change. One person tweeted an image resembling Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei hanging from the rope of a crane.

On Tuesday, a Kurdish political prisoner, Farhad Salimi, was also hanged at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj after fourteen years of imprisonment without being allowed a last meeting with his family.

The Islamic Republic has executed at least 90 people From December 21 to January 20 for various reasons.