KARAJ - Dozens of people demonstrated outside a prison in Iran overnight amid reports authorities were preparing to execute another two anti-government protesters. Opposition activists posted videos showing people chanting slogans in front of Rajai Shahr jail in the city of Karaj.
The mother of Mohammad Ghobadlou, one of the two men at risk of execution, appealed for clemency at the gathering. Two protesters were hanged on Saturday, prompting international condemnation. The UN human rights office deplored the “shocking” executions of Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, which it said followed “unfair trials based on forced confessions”.
A Revolutionary Court found the men guilty of “corruption on Earth” over their alleged involvement in the killing of a member of the paramilitary Basij force in Karaj in November. Both denied the charge and said they were tortured.
They were the third and fourth people to be executed in connection with the protests that erupted in September following the death in custody of a woman detained by morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab “improperly”.