Iran stages public hangings as horrified crowd jeers regime before tear gas crackdown

Two protesters executed in public square

Iran has publicly hanged two young men convicted over their alleged roles in January's anti-government protests, with witnesses reportedly shouting "Dishonorable, dishonorable!" before security forces fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Abolfazl Sepahi Badjani and Amirhossein Safari Hosseinabadi were executed Tuesday in Isfahan's Shahid Alikhani Square, the same location where authorities say four members of Iran's State Security Force were killed during demonstrations on January 8.

According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled opposition group, large numbers of security personnel had been stationed around the square and on nearby rooftops ahead of the executions, apparently anticipating public anger.

Crowd protests as security moves in

The NCRI said spectators openly condemned the hangings, chanting "Dishonorable!" before riot police responded by firing tear gas to clear the area.

Iranian state media confirmed the executions took place publicly, with the semi-official Mehr News Agency reporting they were carried out "in the presence of a group of people."

NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi accused the government of attempting to intimidate the population.

"Fearing public outrage over this brutal crime, the regime's suppressive forces had deployed agents in the surrounding streets and on rooftops," she said.

Authorities defend death sentences

Iran's judiciary said the pair were convicted of multiple offenses, including moharebeh ("enmity against God"), efsad-fil-arz ("corruption on Earth"), arson, destruction of public property and involvement in the deaths of four security officers.

Prosecutors also alleged the men possessed firearms and Molotov cocktails during the unrest.

Judicial officials insist the convictions were based on police investigations, witness testimony, cellphone evidence, confessions and crime-scene reconstruction. Authorities said both men had legal representation and exhausted the appeals process before the executions were carried out.

Rights groups dispute fairness of trial

Human rights organizations strongly reject the government's account, arguing the defendants were denied fundamental legal protections.

The NCRI claimed the two men were prevented from choosing their own lawyers and that even court-appointed attorneys were denied full access to the case files.

United Nations human rights experts this week also expressed alarm, warning that the remaining defendants linked to the case face an imminent risk of execution.

They said the accused — most reportedly in their late teens or early twenties — were tried together during a single closed-door hearing, with little clarity over each individual's alleged responsibility, describing the proceedings as falling short of international fair trial standards.

More executions feared

The two men were among 12 defendants sentenced to death in what has become known as the Alikhani Square case.

Their executions bring the number of people put to death in the case to four after Erfan Esfandiari and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi were executed on July 19.

Human Rights Watch says at least 50 people have been executed in Iran over the past four months on what it describes as broadly defined national security charges.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, said the return to public hangings was designed to spread fear rather than deliver justice.

"By resorting once again to the medieval practice of public hangings, the Islamic Republic is trying to instill fear throughout society and deter future protests," he said, adding that public executions amount to "a cruel form of state terror."

The latest executions come amid Iran's continuing crackdown on dissent following the wave of nationwide protests that erupted during a worsening economic crisis late last year and expanded into one of the largest anti-government movements in the Islamic Republic's history.

SOURCE

Is Trump going to actually do something to help the Iranian people...

Or does he need to steal their🛢️oil first?

To late for these poor souls but I hope the IDF' will remember and eliminate every last one of this tyrannical regime.

And some wonder why members here are against iran's regime and others see the US as the terrorists.Dislike for Trump has some blind to the real truth here, thinking it's all about oil.

Edited 13 minutes ago13 min by fredwiggy