Fears are growing that Iran is preparing to execute scores of protesters after authorities hanged a 23-year-old man from a crane in what the Guardian called a “public murder” less than a month after his arrest and after a secret trial. .
The New York Times said that the public execution of the protesters represented “a shift in government repression to a deadlier one”. A court in Mashhad has sentenced Ali, Majid Reza Rahnaward, to death for allegedly killing two members of the Basij paramilitaries and injuring four others.
The Basij forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have been at the forefront of the state’s repressive campaign against the 3-month-long popular protests. The judiciary’s website Mizan Online posted a series of photographs of Rachnaward hanging from a metal crane with his hands and feet tied and wearing a black robe over his head. Ranward was not allowed to choose his own lawyer, challenge the evidence against him, or demand a public trial. The 1500 Photographers Network reported that Rachnaward’s mother was allowed to visit him the night before his execution. None of them knew about the imminent execution, according to a network that actively covers the protests.
