Iran executes two in public hanging over death of police officer
The executions are the second public hangings to take place in the last week, following the hanging of two Afghan's charged with perpetrating the terrorist attack on the Shahcheragh shrine in Shiraz.
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According to Iran Human Rights, 387 people have been killed since the beginning of 2023 [Getty]
Iranian authorities publicly hanged two men in the city of Fuladshahr, Isfahan province, as a result of being charged with enmity against God, corruption on earth and retribution in kind on Wednesday.
The men, Mohammad Ghaedi Nasab, 35, and Sadegh Mahmoudi Baram, 25, were sentenced in court over the death of a police officer and the injury of another during an armed robbery 18 November 2021.
The defendants are alleged to have shot one of the officers, whilst causing another of the officers to lose a finger. Fars news agency, an IRGC affiliated news outlet, shared Mohammad Ghaedi Nasab's confession video following the execution.
They are the second set of public executions to take place in the last week, following the hanging of two Afghan nationals, Mohammad Ramez Rashidi and Naeim Hashem Ghotali.
They were charged with perpetrating the terrorist attack on the Shahcheragh shrine on 26 October 2022 in Shiraz that killed 15 people and wounded 20 others.
Both were hung near the shrine after trials which the group Iran Human Rights has labelled as grossly unfair, with no evidence being presented during the trial. The group also claimed that the confession of Mohammed Ramez Rashidi, which was aired before the trial, was forced.
#Iran: 4 public hangings within one week; 6 in 2023.
— Iran Human Rights (IHR NGO) (@IHRights) July 13, 2023
State media have reported the public executions of 39-year-old Mohammad Ghaedi Nasab and 26-year-old Sadegh Mahmoudi Baram for charges of moharebeh (enmity against god) and efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) in Fouladshahr in… pic.twitter.com/IaVsTS74WC
According to the group, a total of 387 people have been executed by the Iranian regime since the start of 2023.
Executions in Iran have drawn attention from a number of rights groups who have noted an uptick in their number following large anti-government protests following the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini in police custody in 2022.
The uptick follows from a count of at least 576 executions recorded by Amnesty international in 2022, making Iran second to China regarding the number of executions committed last year.
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