Iran executes man accused of murder during Mahsa Amini unrest

Iran executed a 34-year-old man accused of killing a security officer during unrest over the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, state media said, the first known protest-related execution since a relatively moderate president took office.

The September 2022 death in police custody of Amini, who was arrested for allegedly flouting Iran’s mandatory dress code, sparked months of anti-government protests in the biggest show of opposition to the Shia clerical authorities in years.

In November 2022, Reza Rasaei joined the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests in his hometown of Sahneh, in the western province of Kermanshah, during which security agent Nader Bayrami was fatally stabbed.

According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Bayrami was the intelligence chief for the Islamic Republic’s IRGC in Sahneh county.

Rasaei, a Kurdish member of a religious minority according to rights group Hengaw, was charged with Bayrami’s murder and sentenced to death in October 2023. He was executed on Tuesday, the official judiciary news agency Mizan reported.

“After four court sessions, and based on the opinion of the forensic pathologist as well as confessions of the accused, it was proven that the fatality was caused by a knife belonging to Rasaei,” Mizan quoted the Kermanshah regional prosecutor as saying.

Amnesty International said on its website that Rasaei was sentenced to death after “a grossly unfair trial that relied on his forced confessions obtained under torture.”

Masoud Pezeshkian, who won election as president in July, had in 2022 demanded clarification from authorities about Amini’s death and made promises during his election campaign to better protect the rights of women and minorities.