CNN –
Iran hanged two young men on Saturday, one a karate champion and the other a volunteer children’s coach. This brings to four the total number of people known to have been executed in connection with the protests that have swept the country since September.
Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini were hanged early Saturday morning, state-affiliated Fars News reported. The pair, who allegedly took part in anti-regime protests last year, were convicted of killing Seyed Ruhollah Ajamian, a member of the country’s Basij paramilitary force, in Karaj on November 3, the news agency said of the Iranian judiciary Mizan.
Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a lawyer defending Karami, posted on Twitter on Saturday that Karami was not given final rights to speak to his family before his execution. The lawyer added that Karami had started a dry food hunger strike on Wednesday as a form of protest against the officials for not allowing Aghasi to represent him.
As many as 41 other protesters have received death sentences in recent months, according to statements from both Iranian officials and Iranian media reviewed by CNN and 1500Tasvir, but the number could be much higher.
Karami, 21, was an Iranian-Kurdish karate champion who had a tattoo of the Olympic rings on the inside of his arm. His cousin told CNN that Karami was a brave and intelligent boy who was introduced to karate at the age of 11. He joined the Iranian national youth team and later won in the national championships.
Last month, Karami’s parents posted a video on social media pleading with the state to spare his life. His father said: “My son is among Iran’s karate champions and holds several national titles and was the fourth ranked member of Iran’s national team…I request you to raise the execution order”.
Karami was convicted on December 5, less than a week after his trial began in Tehran for the alleged killing of the paramilitaries. Amnesty described the trial as “not resembling a meaningful judicial proceeding”. His family alleges he was tortured in prison and denied access to a lawyer.
Amnesty International published a quote from Karami’s father who said: “I go to court and prison every morning and then I walk aimlessly through the streets. I went to the jail this morning, but the deputy jail attorney was not there. They told me to stop going there if my case was related to the protests. They don’t give you an answer.
“Every night I fear that they will give me the news of my son’s execution,” said his father. “I have lost hope… they have sentenced my son to death and could carry out his execution at any time.”
Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, 20, was recalled for volunteering with children by a German parliamentarian who pleaded his case.
“#SeyedMohammadHosseini’s story is very sad. He lost both parents. He visited their graves every Thursday. He trains children for free,” Ye-One Rhie wrote on Twitter.
Hosseini was arrested while visiting his parents’ graves, according to Ye-One Rhie. His brother was also taken and is not known, the parliamentarian said.
According to Amnesty, Hosseini was sentenced at the same hearing as Karami and two other men who were also sentenced to death, Hamid Ghare-Hasalou and Hossein Mohammadi.
Amnesty says the convictions were based on forced confessions.
“Before the collective trial began, the state media broadcast the forced ‘confessions’ of the accused and called them ‘murderers’, in violation of their rights to the presumption of innocence and to be free from torture and other ill-treatment cruel, inhuman and degrading”, Amnesty. he wrote.
Meanwhile, the politics editor of Iran’s independent newspaper Etemad Online, Mehdi Beyk, was arrested on Thursday, according to a tweet from the publication. The arrest came amid a crackdown by Iranian authorities following protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last year after the state’s morality police arrested her for not wearing the hijab correctly. Since then, protests have coalesced around a series of grievances with the authoritarian regime.
Beyk was detained by officials from Iran’s Ministry of Information, his wife, Zahra Beyk, said Friday.
He was arrested after having “interviewed the families of several of those arrested in the ongoing demonstrations,” according to the pro-reform activist channel IranWire.
“The journalist’s cell phone, laptop and belongings were confiscated,” his wife tweeted. It is still unclear why Beyk was arrested.
Iranian officials have previously detained some people for their criticism of the government’s response to the demonstrations.
One of Iran’s best-known actresses, Taraneh Alidoosti, was released on bail on Wednesday, state-aligned ISNA said, after she was arrested following her criticism of the execution of a protester .
Known as a feminist activist, Alidoosti last month posted a photo on Instagram of herself without the Islamic hijab and holding a sign reading “Women, Life, Freedom” to show support for the protest movement.
Alidoosti was not formally charged but was initially arrested for “lack of evidence for her claims” in connection with her protest against the hanging of Mohsen Shekari last month in the first known execution linked to the protests.