Iran Hangs Second Protester In Public, In Less Than A Week

Iranian Shia theologian Morteza Moghtadaei -- the deputy chairman of Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom told Iran’s Labour News Agency Sunday that the judicial system does not adhere to Islamic law, or sharia, regarding limitation to issuing death sentence.

Himself a former Revolution Court judge and head of Supreme Court of Iran, Moghtadaei said "In cases where a person does not fight with a group and only fights with one person, that person is not called a mohareb," referring to the charge of "moharebeh" that the Islamic Republic’s judiciary has issued for many protesters. 

“Moharebeh” is an Islamic-Arabic term that in the lexicon of the Iranian regime means “fighting God” and its punishment is death.

The judiciary announced on Thursday the execution of Mohsen Shekari, a twenty-three-year-old protester convicted of injuring a security guard with a knife and closing off a street in the capital Tehran. He was charged with Moharebeh that along with another Islamic concept translated as “corruption on earth” are used as broad concepts by the regime to issue maximum sentences against opponents.

Clerical judges who take orders from the hardliner Judiciary convict people to death without a real trial, often with no defense lawyers and behind closed doors. The defendants have no way of challenging state evidence or introducing witnesses.

Moghtadaei elaborated that "If a mohareb kills someone, he should get the death sentence, but if he only threatens and intimidates, even if he is convicted, he should not get a death sentence; which means although he is a mohareb but should not be executed.”

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Mohammad-Ali Ayazi, another Shia scholar and a seminary teacher, also said that everyone has the right to protest and can defend himself against government agents who want to prevent him. That is not committing ‘moharebeh’, he underlined.

He added that "In an important issue such as execution, it is important that an independent lawyer defends the accused and that a public hearing is held in the presence of a jury." If these principles are not respected, the cycle of violence will continue, Ayazi noted. 

Prominent Iranian lawyer Nemat Ahmadi also criticized the judiciary for the prompt decision to issue death sentences for some of the detained protesters, saying that death sentences cannot be issued so haphazardly. He said that according to Article 279 of the Islamic Penal Code, a person is called a mohareb when he takes up a weapon against the people to cause insecurity by threatening others’ lives, property and honor. “Those who oppose the government are not recognized as mohareb,” he explained.

He added that many Islamic scholars believe the term should be used to describe bandits who endanger the security of the society, considering the historic context in which the term came into existence in the first place. It is very important to determine the use of the term with a lot of caution.

Mohammad-Hossein Saket, another lawyer and law researcher, said that “in general, it is not good to mix legal issues with political issues and make hasty decisions.” 

In a speech after the execution of the first protester, President Ebrahim Raisi announced that "the trial and punishment of the protesters" will continue. Also, Ahmad Khatami, a hardliner cleric and Friday prayer Imam expressed his gratitude “for the decisiveness of the Judiciary, which sent the first rioter to the gallows.” Judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi had announced Tuesday that five more people indicted in the killing of a Basij militia member, Rouhollah Ajamian, were sentenced to death.

Shekari’s hanging after a hasty and unfair trial has sparked deep anger among Iranians, who believe his killing was meant to instill fear among the people, and world leaders who describe the act as the acme of atrocity and a nadir of humanity.

Iran’s top Sunni religious leader has also slammed the executions of protesters as violations of Sharia law and warned the authorities that this will not stop the antigovernment movement.

Nationwide protests that erupted after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on September 16 represent one of the biggest challenges to the Islamic Republic since its establishment in 1979. So far, around 500 civilians have been killed by security forces and at least 18,000 arrested. While many have been released, around 1,500 face criminal charges, and at least 80 detainees face the death sentence.

Gohar Eshghi, the mother of the 35-year-old blogger Sattar Beheshti, who was killed under torture in prison, announced in a video message Sunday that she and her family have been threatened by government agents.

Sattar Beheshti's mother emphasized that “If something happens to us, the [supreme] Leader [Ali Khamenei] is responsible.”

She added that the security forces have been threatening her for eleven years, but she and the people of Iran are ready to expel them and their master (Khamenei) from the country.

Gohar Eshghi had previously reported threats against her by the clerical regime in early December saying, “No one is afraid of death! Don't threaten!”

Last year, she was assaulted by unknown individuals when she was on her way to visit her son’s grave. Two people approached on a motorcycle and one of them attacked the elderly woman knocking her to the ground. People who saw the incident took her to a hospital, with injuries.

She has been demanding justice for her son who was arrested by security forces for his blogging activity and died a few days later, in what was believed to be a case of torture in detention.

Beheshti was an ordinary laborer who was active on Facebook and maintained a blog, often criticizing Islamic Republic officials.

Mohammad Sarafraz said in a video message that “beating and killing [protesters] will not work and sooner or later it will reach a dead end, so this method must end.”

The comments by Sarafaraz, which can be interpreted as an unprecedented warning by an official appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, were made in a conversation with Shahrazad Mirqolikhan.

Mirqolikhan was arrested and imprisoned for five years in the US for trying to send military equipment to Iran.

After her release, she went to Oman and later became the public relations manager of Press TV, the English-language Iranian state TV channel, which was headed by Mohammad Sarfraz at the time.

In his unprecedented speech, Sarafraz warned Supreme Leader’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei saying “the method of putting pressure on people and not paying attention to their political and economic demands and their legitimate freedoms will not work.”

“I am in a situation that I know by making these remarks, anything may happen to me, so I have written my will,” added Sarafraz.

The so-called neighborhood youth groups have assumed a leading role in organizing protests when first they separately announced their existence on social media. These underground groups, whose members remain anonymous, use Twitter and Telegram as their main platforms. Several of the groups recently announced they had formed an alliance calling it United Youth of Iran (UYI).

The group said its manifesto circulated on social media on Sunday is meant to “pave the grounds for dialogue and cooperation” among various trade organizations, unions, political groups and activists inside Iran and abroad.

Iranian protesters have made it clear in the past three months that they are not seeking reforms within the system of the Islamic Republic. Their slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei show, they are seeking a revolution - a complete regime change. “This is not protest anymore, this is a revolution,” demonstrators often chant.

The youth groups alliance says getting rid of the Islamic Republic, separation of religion and state, and the “formation of an inclusive, democratic government” form the cornerstone of the 43-article manifesto, The document highlights the strictly secular nature of any future government.

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The first article of the manifesto is inspired by a famous Persian poem from the 13th century poet Saadi, which is also inscribed on a large hand-made carpet at the United Nations headquarters in New York, that says:

"Human Beings are members of a whole

In creation of one essence and soul

If one member is inflicted with pain

Other members uneasy will remain

If you have no sympathy for human pain

The name of human you cannot pertain"

The articles of the manifesto emphasize the right of the Iranian people to self-determination, citizens' equality before the law, full equality of men and women, freedom of belief and religion, freedom of speech, freedom of forming trade and other unions, as well as personal freedoms.

“Political parties must have freedom of action within the framework of law, respect for the country’s territorial integrity, fundamental human rights, transparency, and they must abide by democracy,” article 22 of the manifesto says.

The country’s foreign policy should be based on securing national interests and maintaining global peace, and non-interference, the manifesto says, and underlines that the future government of Iran should be committed to international charters and conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Several of the articles of the manifesto outline the future government’s duties to work for the welfare of its citizens, especially those not capable of providing for themselves without state assistance, provide free education and healthcare to all, protect the environment, and ensure that the rich pay their taxes in proportion to their income.

The manifesto can become an outline or a guide for a new, post-Islamic Republic constitution, reflecting the aspirations of a majority of young and older Iranians.

In a statement released on their Twitter account Saturday, Neighborhood Youth of Tehran has urged the opposition abroad to form a coalition to represent Iranian protesters among “other nations of the free world”.

The anonymous underground group was the first of youth groups to emerge in various Iranian cities that have taken a leading role in organizing protests since October when they announced their existence on social media. These groups use Twitter and Telegram as their main platforms. Several of the groups recently announced they had formed a larger group calling itself Neighborhood Youth of Iran (Javanan-e Mahallat-e Iran).

These groups which have gained considerable influence in a short time are united in their goal of toppling the regime through organizing protests and strikes. Their only platform is social media despite heavy internet restrictions and blocking all major platforms.

The Tehran group’s new statement has stressed that a revolution can only happen through protests and strikes, while indirectly criticizing various political figures and groups abroad for having failed to reach an agreement among themselves to form a coalition that can help the revolution and be its international voice.

“One day we decided to organize together, despite some ideological differences, and to focus on one goal, the toppling of this child-killing regime, in solidarity and unity,” the statement said. “Revolutionaries inside the country have long been waiting for news [of such a coalition] any delay of which could cause loss of hope to combatants,” they said.

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“Who will be our representative in talks with other nations of the free world if patriotic and freedom-seeking political groups abroad cannot form a coalition in tandem with heroic movement of the people across this land?”, the statement said, adding that any delay in the formation of such a coalition would only give the regime a better chance of suppressing the movement and “bloodshed”.

“We urge you to agree on a mechanism and procedure to elucidate the perspectives on the day after the victory [of the revolution] and unite under one flag, for the sake of the innocent bloods shed in this path, to introduce the path of solidarity so that others will join you along,” the statement said.

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Revolutionaries of the “leaderless revolution of Iran” have invested their hopes in some political figures living abroad who have the means to relay their message to the world to unite and take the role of leaders of the movement for the time-being and through the period of transition from the Islamic Republic to a new government.

Among these, several appear to have high popularity, at least according to some social media polls, including the former Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, activists Hamed Esmaeilion, Nazanin Bonyadi, Masih Alinejad, environmentalist Kaveh Madani, and very popular soccer player Ali Karimi.

Several dissident figures still living in Iran also appeared to be popular in a Twitter poll two weeks ago which offered a long list of possible candidates.

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Two political prisoners, Hossein Ronaghi and Fatemeh Sepehri, were among the most popular as well as and two popular soccer players, the legendary player Ali Daei and Vorya Ghafouri, who have openly supported the protest movement despite pressures, constant intimidation. The regime shut down Daei’s businesses last week and Ghafouri was arrested in November and later released on bail.

The regime has almost effectively wiped out or neutralized independent political parties and groups, non-governmental organizations, dissident figures and even moderate critics through prosecution and censorship.

The few extant reformist parties have lost their influence among the populace in the past few years. “People have been through periods of reformism and have not achieved any results. They have now put reformists behind,” Ali Shakourirad, a veteran reformist and spokesman of the once very influential Reformist Front said at a political gathering on November 29 while Mohsen Mirdamadi, another prominent reformist figure, said last week that disillusioned Iranians have put behind them “not only reformists, but also everything [within the Iranian polity]” including any hopes of change through elections or reforms.