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Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Thursday, May 18, 2023
US urges Iran not to carry out executions of three protesters
Protests following the death of in Tehran, Iran on September 21, 2022. (AP photo)
The United States urges Iran not to carry out the executions of three people involved in nationwide protests, with campaigners fearing that authorities will kill them imminently.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel, echoing a statement last week by Amnesty International, voices concern that Iran may soon execute Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi, who were arrested in November over protests in the central city of Isfahan.
“We join the people of Iran and the international community in calling on Iran to not carry out these executions,” Patel tells reporters. “The execution of these men after what have widely been regarded as sham trials would be an affront to human rights and basic dignity in Iran and everywhere.
