Iran executes man accused of killing security officer during Mahsa Amini protests
Reza Rasaei, 34, hanged for murder of Revolutionary Guard agent during 2022’s ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests; Amnesty International says his confession was obtained by torture
Iran executed a 34-year-old man on Tuesday who was accused of killing a security officer during unrest over the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in 2022, state media said.
It was first known protest-related execution since President Masoud Pezeshkian, considered a relative moderate, took office.
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 elite Revolutionary Guards in Sahneh county.
Rasaei, an Iranian Kurd, was convicted of Bayrami’s murder on October 7, 2023. At the time, Amnesty International condemned the verdict, saying in a statement that it was based on a confession obtained under torture.
“According to an informed source, during interrogations [Iranian police] subjected Reza Rasaei to torture and other ill-treatment, including electric shocks, suffocation by putting a plastic bag over his head and severe beatings to compel his forced ‘confessions,” the human rights group said at the time.
Reza Rasaei, a 34-year-old Iranian who was arrested during the 2022 protests in Sahneh, Kermanshah, was executed on Tuesday morning.
Rasaei was accused of killing a member of the Revolutionary Guards on November 18, 2022, and his death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court… pic.twitter.com/X5XXNaN2oC
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) August 6, 2024
Mizan said Rasaei was sentenced to death in October 2023 in accordance with Islamic Sharia law on “retribution” and that the verdict was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
The “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests associated with the case were sparked by the 2022 death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for an alleged breach of Iran’s strict dress code for women.
Hundreds of people were killed, including dozens of security personnel, and thousands more arrested over what officials labeled as foreign-instigated “riots.”
Covering the neck and head has been compulsory for women in Iran since a few years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. For a while after the protests, women increasingly flouted the dress code, but in recent months police have taken tougher steps against women who ignore the rules.
Rasaei’s execution brings to 10 the number of people executed on charges of murder or other violence against security force personnel during the protests.
Iran executes more people per year than any other nation except China, according to human rights groups including Amnesty International. Iran generally carries out executions by hanging.
