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Iran confirms second death sentence in connection to protests

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Iran confirmed Wednesday that a second death sentence in three days had been issued in connection with ongoing protests over the death in custody of Mahsa Amin on September 16, MiddleEastEye (MEE) reports.

The second person now sentenced to death has not been named, but authorities said he had been charged with “terrorizing people in the street using a bladed weapon, setting fire to the motorcycle of a citizen, and attacking a person with a knife,” MEE reports.

In a statement to AFP, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group said further death sentences were anticipated and that it is expected they will be announced one by one to “minimize the reactions.” According to IHR, Iranian security forces have already killed at least 326 people, including 43 children and 25 women, in connection with the protests.

“We strongly condemn the death sentences issued by the Islamic republic judiciary, which is part of the oppressive regime and not an independent judicial system,” IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told AFP. “Protesters don’t have access to lawyers in the interrogation phase, they are subjected to physical and mental torture to give false confessions and sentenced based on the confessions by the revolutionary courts.”

“The international community must send a strong warning to the Islamic Republic that execution of protesters will have severe consequences,” Amiry-Moghaddam added. “We fear mass executions unless the political cost of executions increases significantly.”