PARIS
\nSeveral Iranians were on Sunday at risk of imminent execution over protests that have rocked the country\u2019s clerical regime, rights groups warned, after an international backlash over Iran\u2019s first hanging linked to the movement.
\nThe almost three-month protest movement was sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by the Islamic republic\u2019s morality police. It is posing the biggest challenge to the regime since the shah\u2019s ousting in 1979.
\nIran calls the protests \u201criots\u201d and says they have been encouraged by its foreign foes. Authorities are responding with a crackdown activists say aims to instill fear in the public.
\nIran on Thursday executed Mohsen Shekari, 23, who had been convicted of attacking a member of the security forces. Rights groups said his legal process, which they described as a show trial, was marked by undue haste.
\nIran\u2019s judiciary has reported that 11 people received death sentences so far in connection with the protests, but campaigners say around a dozen others are facing charges that could see them also receive the death penalty.
\nUnless foreign governments \u201csignificantly increase\u201d the diplomatic and economic costs to Iran, the world \u201cis sending a green light to this carnage,\u201d said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
\nAmnesty International said Iran was now \u201cpreparing to execute\u201d Mahan Sadrat, 22, just a month after his \u201cgrossly unfair\u201d trial. He was convicted of drawing a knife in the protests, accusations he strongly denied in court.
\nOn Saturday Sadrat was transferred from Greater Tehran Prison to Rajai Shahr prison in the nearby city of Karaj, \u201csparking concerns that his execution may be carried out imminently,\u201d Amnesty said.
\n\u201cLike all other death row prisoners, he was denied any access to his lawyer during the interrogations, proceedings and show trial,\u201d said another group, Oslo-based Iran Human Rights.
\nAmnesty warned the life of another young man arrested over the protests, Sahand Nourmohammadzadeh, was also at risk \u201cafter a fast-tracked proceeding which did not resemble a trial.\u201d
\nHe was sentenced to death in November on accusations of \u201ctearing down highway railings and setting fire to rubbish cans and tires,\u201d the group said.
\nAmong others given the same sentence is rapper Saman Seyedi, 24, from Iran\u2019s Kurdish minority. His mother pleaded for his life on social media in a video where she stated \u201cmy son is an artist not a rioter.\u201d
\nAnother dissident rapper, Toomaj Salehi, who expressed support for anti-regime protests, is charged with \u201ccorruption on earth\u201d and could face a death sentence, Iranian judicial authorities confirmed last month.
\n\u201cWe fear for the life of Iranian artists who have been indicted on charges carrying the death penalty,\u201d United Nations experts said in a statement, referring to the cases of Sayedi and Salehi.
\nAmnesty and IHR have also raised the case of Hamid Gharehasanlou, a medical doctor sentenced to death. They say he was tortured in custody and his wife was coerced into giving evidence against him which she later sought to retract.
\n\u201cProtester executions can only be prevented by raising their political cost for the Islamic Republic,\u201d IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said, calling for a \u201cstronger than ever\u201d international response.
\nThe US, European Union members and UK strongly condemned the execution of Shekari. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said it showed a \u201cboundless contempt for human life.\u201d
\nIran on Saturday and Friday again summoned the British and German ambassadors to protest their countries\u2019 actions, marking the 15th time in less than three months Tehran has called in foreign envoys as the demonstrations continue.
\nMany activists want the foreign response to go further, extending even to severing diplomatic ties with Iran and expelling Tehran\u2019s envoys from European capitals.
\nAfter the widespread international outrage at Shekari\u2019s execution, Iran said it was exercising restraint, both in the response by security forces, and the \u201cproportionality\u201d of the judicial process.
\nIran\u2019s use of the death penalty is part of a crackdown that IHR says has left at least 458 people killed by the security forces.
\nAccording to the UN, at least 14,000 have been arrested.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS Several Iranians were on Sunday at risk of imminent execution over protests that have rocked the country\u2019s clerical regime, rights groups warned, after an international backlash over Iran\u2019s first hanging linked to the movement. The almost three-month protest movement was sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by the Islamic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-300674","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n