Iran: Is a wave of executions coming over Christmas?

The execution platform is now ready in the Shahid Alikhani square, in the city Iranian from Isfahan. At least 43 people sentenced to death by the regime will soon pass through there, for having dared to raise their voices in protest. Among them would be the ex-soccer player Amir Nasr-Azadani.

According to a CNN investigation, in collaboration with the activist group 1500Tasvir, the wave of executions is imminent. So far two young people have already been subjected to capital punishment, by hanging, while the hundreds of detainees await their turn when the executioner puts the noose around their necks.

All for the sin of having taken to the streets to demonstrate for Mahsa Aminia young woman who died last September at the hands of the morality police, who arrested and beat her for not wearing the veil properly.

The death of Mahsa Amini last September unleashed an unusual wave of civil protests in Iran. In the photo, a protest against the Iranian regime in Istanbul, Turkey. REUTERS/Dilara Senkaya/File Photo (DILARA SENKAYA/)

This triggered an unprecedented movement that mobilized thousands of people, especially young people, to protest against the repression of the Ayatollahs, knowing that they were risking their lives with it. Women who took off their headscarves in the street, university students who turned classrooms into places of discussion in search of the long-awaited change, and unemployed young people who did not hesitate to shout in avenues and squares that the course of the country is not the best.

The protests have already left some 500 dead.have resulted in more than 18,000 arrests, 400 jail sentences in Tehran alone, 11 officially recognized hanging sentences, and two executions, the last of which was public.

Iran’s leaders have called the protests “riots instigated by foreign enemies of the country.” However, an overwhelming majority of the protesters have been unarmed.

READ ALSO: The parents of a young man sentenced to death in Iran plead for mercy for their son

confessions under torture

According to CNN, witness testimony and official documents provide evidence that suggests that the judicial process has been rushed; and that charges that could carry the death penalty were often handed down in a single sitting.

Previous CNN investigations have found that prisoners have been subjected to torture and sexual assault in order to extract confessions from them.

As an example, he cites the case of Majid Kazemi, a man accused of participating in the murder of three members of the security forces. “He didn’t confess to doing any of the things he was accused of, so he was severely beaten,” a source close to Kazemi told CNN.

In this September 19 photo, protesters burn a police motorcycle in the heart of Tehran. Those arrested for participating in the protests are being sentenced to death. (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo/File Photo (WANA NEWS AGENCY/)

Many of the sessions to dictate the death sentences are scheduled for the next few days, which coincide with Christmas. “This will coincide with a time when the international community is observing these holy days, and the Islamic Republic regime will take advantage of being removed from the watchful eyes of the world.”say the activists of 1500Tasvir.

Iran, being a Muslim country governed by Islamic laws, does not officially celebrate Christmas. However, the Assyrian and Armenian minorities, who are Christian, do.

The prisoner footballer

In case of Amir Nasr-Azadani He has been one of the most publicized, since his photo with the shirt of an Iranian team has gone around the world. He, too, could soon face the death penalty.

Although the Iranian embassy in Colombia recently ruled out that information, it did confirm the accusations against the athlete.

Amir Nasr-Azadani, a footballer from Iran, is at risk of execution for supporting women’s protests. (Photo: SC Tractor)

Amir Nasr-Azadani26, is accused of participating in the murder of three security officers, including two members of the Basij militia [un grupo paramilitar que depende de la Guardia Revolucionaria]during the protests in Isfahan on November 16, Iranian state media IRNA reported last week.

According to state media, the city’s chief justice, Asadullah Jafari, said Nasr-Azadani had been charged with leading riots against the authorities and, under Iran’s penal code, the sentence can carry the death penalty.

Source: Elcomercio