Iran executed Mohsen Shekari, the first of 11 protesters convicted of participating in anti-government rallies this fall. It is reported by the BBC.
Shekari was hanged on the morning of December 8, before that the Revolutionary Court of Iran found him guilty of "enmity against God" because of his participation in the protests. On September 25, he blocked the main road in Tehran and stabbed a member of the Basij civil militia. The activist himself stated that he was convicted after a "show trial without due process".
Formerly Iranian-resident Badri Hosseini Khamenei, sister of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned the crackdown on protests in the country and called on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) (an elite arm of the armed forces) to lay down their arms. Prior to that, Khamenei's niece, human rights activist Farideh Moradhani, was arrested for urging countries to cut all ties with Iran over a brutal crackdown on protests.
In September 2022, protests began in Iran over the death of 22-year-old activist Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the vice police for violating the law on wearing the hijab (her hair was visible from under the headscarf). Many Iranian women stopped wearing the hijab in protest, Iranian Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said the authorities are reviewing the law on the mandatory wearing of the hijab. During the autumn protests, about 15 thousand people were arrested. Iran admitted that about 200 people died during the rallies, but human rights activists claim 460 dead. Iranian authorities turned to Russia for help in suppressing the uprisings, noting that it can supply equipment and advisers, and also has experience in dealing with protests.
The hijab became mandatory for Iranian women in April 1983, four years after the Islamic Revolution.
