Iran hangs rapper Mohsen Shekari in first execution of jailed pro-democracy protesters

Iran carried out its first known execution Thursday over the protests that have shaken the regime since September, hanging a 23-year-old man after a legal process denounced as a show trial by rights groups.

Mohsen Shekari was convicted and sentenced to death for blocking a street and wounding a paramilitary during the early phase of the pro-democracy protests in mid-September.

Hey world, when you were busy with the news of ambolish of the so-called morality police, the Islamic Republic executed 23-year-old #MohsenShekari.#MahsaAmini pic.twitter.com/QieI9Xcrem

— Hamidreza (@justchangingun) December 8, 2022

Nationwide protests that erupted after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on 16 September represent one of the biggest challenges to the Islamic Republic since its establishment in 1979.

The Tasnim news agency identified the person who was executed as Mohsen Shekari but gave no more details.

Authorities have been cracking down on the protests, and on Monday the Revolutionary Guards praised the judiciary for its uncompromising stand and encouraged it to swiftly and decisively issue judgements for defendants accused of "crimes against the security of the nation and Islam".

Judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi announced on Tuesday that five people indicted in the killing of a Basij militia member, Rouhollah Ajamian, were sentenced to death in a verdict that they can appeal.

Amnesty International has said the Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 21 people in what it called, "sham trials designed to intimidate those participating in the popular uprising that has rocked Iran".

"The Iranian authorities must immediately quash all death sentences, refrain from seeking the imposition of the death penalty and drop all charges against those arrested in connection with their peaceful participation in protests," it said.

Iran has blamed the unrest on its foreign foes including the United States.