Another young man in Iran is to be executed. His parents record a video asking the mullahs’ regime for his life. Human rights activists report an unfair, hasty process intended to deter protesters.
The parents of a young Iranian man facing execution have asked the country’s judiciary for clemency. “I beg you to lift the death penalty in my son’s case,” said Mashallah Karami, father of Mohammed Mehdi Karami, in a video published on online networks. According to Amnesty International, the son was sentenced to death in an abbreviated trial in connection with the protests against the Iranian leadership.
In the past two weeks, the Iranian judiciary has already executed two young men who are said to have injured or killed security forces during protests. Iran has imposed 11 death sentences since the protests began. Amnesty International estimates that a total of 26 people could be executed, including some who have not yet been sentenced.
Human rights organizations have criticized the court hearings as hasty and unfair. Karami, who is said to be in his early 20s, was sentenced a week after the trial began. He is said to have been involved in a deadly attack on a paramilitary group. The family lawyer did not have access to him and the public defender did not return calls from his family. Iran is suspected of using the death penalty as a threat to contain the protests.
The country has been shaken by a wave of protests since the death of the young Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini on September 16. Amini was previously arrested by the vice squad on charges of violating the country’s strict dress code. Since then, authorities have arrested thousands in their crackdown on what they described as “riots”. The death sentences against two 23-year-old men, Mohsen Shekari and Majidresa Rahnaward, were carried out last week.
Meanwhile, the Cannes Film Festival has protested the arrest of Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti and called for her release. The festival showed “solidarity with the peaceful commitment to freedom and women’s rights,” it said. Several celebrities and human rights organizations protested their arrest over the weekend.
