A Second Execution Fails To Stop Iran's Mahsa Amini Protests
Add Majidreza Rahnavard to the names of people killed by the Iranian government for protesting the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police.
Majidreza Rahnavard was the second person executed by the Islamic Republic in retaliation for the ongoing protests, which even executions and prison sentences have failed to suppress.
Iran said Monday it executed its second prisoner detained amid the nationwide protests now challenging the country's theocracy, airing footage on state television it claimed showed him stabbing a man to death and running away.
The execution of Majidreza Rahnavard, less than a month after he allegedly carried out the fatal stabbings of two security officials, shows the speed at which Iran now carries out death sentences for those detained in the demonstrations the government hopes to put down.
There are reports from various human rights groups within Iran that at least a dozen more people have been sentenced to death for participating in the protests, with hundreds expected to receive lengthy prison sentences.
Executions and prison sentences are the Iranian government’s latest attempt to suppress the protests which have erupted across Iran over the past three months.
The development underscores the speed at which Iran now carries out death sentences handed down for those detained in the demonstrations that the government hopes to put down.
Activists warn that at least a dozen people already have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings. At least 488 people have been killed since the demonstrations began in mid-September, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that's been monitoring the protests. Another 18,200 people have been detained by authorities.
It is worth noting the number of people already killed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij militia paramilitary in their efforts to break up demonstrations and intimidate protesters. With nearly 500 people already killed by the government, the executions seem less likely to dissuade people from further protest—if they’re already risking their lives by taking to the streets, formal execution instead of extrajudicial killing does not alter the risk calculus that much.
It should also be noted that the trials, sentences, and executions carried out by the Iranian government have been called out as show trials even under Iranian law.
A lawyer in Iran, who could not be identified due to security concerns, previously told ABC News the judicial process behind Shekari's trial and execution "was not transparent and not normal at all."
"Crimes that are punishable by death, such as 'moharebeh,' must have a lawyer in the case," the lawyer said. "But Shekari was denied the right to appoint a lawyer."
Crimes such as "moharebeh" are "open for interpretation" by judges, the Iranian lawyer told ABC News on Monday. "Any action, be it setting a bin on fire or closing a street, can be decided to be a sample of waging war against God. Not being able to appoint a lawyer in such a court makes it a total sham trial."
Certainly from the perspective of Western culture the charges levied against those arrested while protesting sound contrived and arbitrary—what exactly does it mean to “wage war against God”?
According to the judiciary reports over the past few weeks, at least 20 more people are currently either on death row or charged with "waging war against God" and "corruption on Earth" for participating in the protests, which -- according to Iran's Sharia law -- are punishable by execution.
"These prisoners and their families are facing tough days," an Iranian activist, who did not want their name to be mentioned for security concerns, told ABC News. "They see these executions and can't keep up hope for having a fair trial for their dear ones."
"Every night I worry that they will bring me the news of my child's execution," Mashallah Karami, father of Mohammad Mehdi Karami, another protestor sentenced to execution, told Iran's Etemad Daily on Monday. His son was arrested after participating in the funeral of one of the victims of the protests in Karaj, a town north of Tehran, on Nov. 3.
When even going to a funeral can be deemed a potentially criminal act, it becomes difficult to see the ruling regime as anything but arbitrary, capricious, and bloodthirsty. With no defense counsel, and with trials taking place mere days and weeks after an initial detention, it is hard to dismiss the likelihood the trial process itself is tainted and corrupt.
Nor is mere execution the only outrageous response the Iranian government has had to the protests. In an effort to break the ongoing 40-day cycle where the funerals of those killed while protesting become fodder for fresh protests, fueling fresh killings by the violent Basij militia, which in turn fuels fresh funeral protests 40 days later, the government is reported to be taking the bodies of slain protesters from hospitals and morgues to prevent the funerals taking place.
Iranian authorities have been accused of stealing the bodies of slain protesters from hospitals and morgues in order to prevent families from holding funerals, which activists say could prove rallying points for the protests.
The families of the protesters who have been killed called it a disturbing new tactic of intimidation.
The U.N. has previously warned that Iranian authorities have refused the release of bodies or made their release contingent on the families staying silent.
While the Iranian government has denied the allegations, the reports come in from multiple sources.
The body of 16 year old Nika Shakarami was reportedly stolen from the morgue and buried in a different village than where her family planned to have her buried.
Later that night, security forces stole Nika's body from the morgue and buried her in a village several miles west of where Nika's family wanted to bury her, she told Iran International. Nika's uncle was arrested for objecting to the theft of the body and other relatives are wanted by police for objecting as well, she said in the interview. The family couldn't retrieve the body again.
Even the body of Reza Haghighatnejad, a journalist working out of Prague for RFE/RL who died of cancer in Berlin, was reported taken by the IRGC when his remains were flown back to Iran for burial.
The U.S. State Department expressed disgust over reports that RFE/RL journalist Reza Haghighatnejad’s body has been seized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and called on Iranian authorities to immediately release Reza’s remains to his family.
“We are disgusted by reports that the IRGC seized Reza's remains as they were repatriated to Iran for burial in his hometown of Shiraz,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement on October 27 released to RFE/RL's Radio Farda, where Haghighatnejad worked from 2019 until his death.
Iranian authorities apparently fear to allow deceased protesters and dissidents regular funeral services as the funerals themselves have become flashpoints for further protests, and have decided desecrating the deceased is more tolerable than future protests and demonstrations every 40 days.
Still, the ruling theocrats in Tehran are facing a serious dilemma, as their suppression tactics against the protesters are not working: the protests are not merely continuing, but are expanding, as each violent response by government security forces becomes a fresh reason for protest, a new incentive to seek political change.
APA informs that in ongoing protests in Shahrikurd, Saqqez, Sanandaj, Shiraz, Tehran, Mashhad and a number of cities, "Freedom for women, independence for nations!", "Pishavari, may your soul be happy!", "Freedom, justice, national government", "Majid Reza, you fell asleep, we all woke up", "Death to the dictator!", "Freedom!" and other slogans were chanted.
While the protests themselves have yet to coalesce into a discrete resistance movement organized around a particular political or religious figure with the heft to unseat the ruling regime, the mere fact that they are continuing makes the protests an existential threat to the government. So long as the protests continue, the possibility exists that they will coalesce into a true revolutionary movement, with the desire for political and social change becoming matched with plans and strategies on how to make that change happen.
At the moment, that coalescing is not happening, and there is no sign that it is about to happen. So long as the protests remain unfocused and diffuse in this way the theocratic regime in Iran will survive, although they are likely to have to contend with an increasingly restive population that genuinely does not like their rule. The reality presented by the Mahsa Amini protests is that the Iranian people are becoming more angry over the regime’s repressive theocracy than they are fearful. When threat of capital punishment fails to stop people from protesting, it is fair to say intimidation will no longer work as a governing tactic.
The Islamic Republic is not on the verge of toppling, but it is being weakened by these protests. With neither the protesters nor the government able to prevail over the other, Iran can look forward to a period of violent political anarchy and constant internal turmoil.