Human rights groups say Iran is set to execute the first anti-government demonstrator charged as part of a recent wave of protests, while leaders from around the world have raised concerns about violence against protesters.
Groups including Norway-based Iran Human Rights quoted sources as saying that 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, accused of “waging war against God” over his role in the protests that have rocked the country since late last month, will be executed on 14 January, six days after his arrest.
The current protests are one of the biggest challenges to Iran’s clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iranian officials have not publicly commented on the reports about Soltani. But the Tasnim news agency, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported on 13 January that the judiciary had filed the first charges against several protesters.
The agency said that serious cases, particularly those involving charges of “inciting war against God,” an offence punishable by death under Iran’s Islamic law, would be prioritised.
“The killing of peaceful demonstrators must stop, and calling protesters ‘terrorists’ to justify violence against them is unacceptable,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on 13 January, condemning the Iranian authorities’ decision to “use brutal force to suppress legitimate demands for change.”
The protests were sparked by rising inflation and a falling currency, but have since morphed into a broader anti-government protest.
Human rights groups say officials have violently suppressed the demonstrations, leaving more than 600 people dead. Reuters, citing an unnamed official, reported about 2,000 dead.
The United States and other Western countries have condemned the Iranian government’s crackdown on protesters and previously imposed sanctions on Tehran for trying to develop nuclear weapons, which Iran denies.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. is considering several “very tough” options for dealing with Iran over the crackdown on protests, and among those options are strikes on Iran.
On 12 January, Trump announced a 25 per cent duty on countries doing business with Iran.
The move could affect major US trade relations around the world, as Iran’s partners are not only neighbouring states, but also India, Turkey and China, the US publication Bloomberg reported.