NEW YORK – Iran’s judiciary said it had sentenced three more people to death for involvement in protests that have gripped the country and resurged overnight.
A total of five people now face execution for participating in widespread, anti-regime demonstrations.
All the individuals, none of whom have been named, have been indicted under serious national security charges such as “war against God”, or are accused of attacking members of the Islamic Republic’s heavily-armed security forces, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported citing a judiciary statement.
The United Nations and rights groups have urged Iran to halt indictments involving the death penalty and to release all peaceful protesters.
At least 342 people have been killed by security forces and 15,000 people have been arrested for taking part in protests that were triggered by the Sept 16 death in police custody of Ms Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman arrested for allegedly flouting Islamic dress codes.
The judiciary statement comes as demonstrations and strikes swelled in towns and cities across Iran for a second day, driven by calls to mark the three-year anniversary of the November 2019 fuel protests in which hundreds of people were killed.
At least nine people including security personal were reported killed overnight in Iran and officials announced a fresh wave of arrests.
Iran’s Islamist rulers and security apparatus are under increasing pressure domestically and diplomatically as they face the biggest popular uprising since the 1979 revolution.
Broad international condemnation of their violent response to the protests and their support for Russia’s war on Ukraine has prompted a raft of new sanctions from the US, Canada, the European Union and Britain.
Iranian officials announced another spate of arrests on Wednesday, claiming many of those detained had links to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or French intelligence services.
State-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported that 110 protesters were arrested in Fars province on Tuesday, and two people in south-eastern Sistan-Baluchestan province were detained on suspicion of being “armed terrorists”.
The number of people arrested on accusations of separatism in the north-western city of Urmia reached 100, IRNA said.
IRNA reported that two people were arrested in Saravan county in south-eastern Sistan-Baluchestan province on suspicion of being “armed terrorists”, while the number of people detained in the north-western city of Urmia on accusations of separatism reached 100. BLOOMBERG
