Iran hangs two men accused of killing a member of the paramilitary force in the protests

Iran has hanged this Saturday morning two men whom it had accused of killing a member of the security forces during the nationwide protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16.

The 22-year-old woman had been detained by the Morale police for not wearing her veil properly and she died in police custody, which sparked numerous protests throughout the country.

These latest two executions bring to four the official number of protesters killed by Iranian regime authorities.

The two executed men had been found guilty of killing a militia member of the Basij paramilitary force.

Three others have been sentenced to death in the same case, while 11 have received prison terms.

"Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, the main perpetrators of the crime that led to the unjust martyrdom of Ruhollah Ajamian, were hanged this morning," a spokesman for the judiciary confirmed in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.

They were 20 and 22 years old respectively.

The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, has condemned these deaths and has called on Tehran to immediately stop sentencing protesters to death and to annul the existing sentences.

"This is yet another sign of the Iranian authorities' violent crackdown on civil protests," Borrell said in a statement.

The Dutch government, for its part, has said it will summon Iran's ambassador for the second time in a month to raise concerns about the execution of protesters, and has urged other community partners to do the same.

The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, also urged this Saturday that the community and global response to the actions of the ayatollah regime be "stronger" and make Tehran "accountable for executing citizens who ask for respect for women, freedom and life”, reports EFE.

The NGO Amnesty International said last month that Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 26 other people in what it called "sham trials designed to intimidate protesters."

AI has also detailed that all those facing death sentences have been denied the right to an adequate defense and access to lawyers of their choice.

The defendants, according to various human rights groups, have had to rely on state-appointed lawyers.

The same NGO has said that the court that sentenced Karami, a 22-year-old karate fighter, relied on forced confessions.

Hosseini's lawyer, Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani, said in a December 18 tweet that his client had been severely tortured and that the confessions extracted under torture had no legal basis.

He also claimed that Hosseini was beaten with his hands and feet tied, kicked in the head until he passed out, and subjected to electric shocks in different parts of his body.

Meanwhile, Iran denies any accusation of torture.

More than 500 dead

The human rights group HRANA estimates that 517 protesters have been killed since the start of the protests, 70 of whom were minors.

The regime, however, lowers that figure to 300.

A total of 68 members of the security forces are also reported to have died in the riots, according to the same organization, which believes that up to 19,262 protesters have been arrested.

Follow all the international information on