Arabic version: القضاء الإيراني يعلن إعدامات ويحذّر من المتسللين
According to Al Jazeera, Iran’s judiciary announced several executions this week connected to unrest in recent months, while senior officials renewed warnings against people accused of creating divisions during the war with the United States. The judiciary’s official outlet said Mehdi Khanaki was executed on Wednesday after being identified as an “active element of a terrorist group” arrested during nationwide protests in January.
State television showed security forces raiding a home in Karaj, near Tehran, where handguns, ammunition and explosives were allegedly found. A revolutionary court tried Khanaki on charges including “operational action in favour of the Zionist regime, the United States and hostile groups”. On Sunday, authorities executed two other men in a 16-defendant case linked to deadly protests in Isfahan on January 8.
Authorities said the two men had roles in the killing of several police officers. Foreign-based activists disputed the state account, alleging a lack of due process and torture. The protests began in central Tehran on December 28 over economic issues before developing into nationwide expressions of frustration with the establishment. Iranian authorities describe the unrest, in which thousands were killed, mostly on January 8 and 9, as a coup orchestrated by the United States and Israel.
Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, speaking in a televised meeting on Monday with President Masoud Pezeshkian and senior clerical judges, urged unity and warned against “alarmists, rumour-spreaders, hypocrites and infiltrators”. He said such people could disguise themselves as insiders and attempt to set people against one another. Earlier this week, Mojtaba Khamenei called for “sacred unity” among people and political factions.
The executions and warnings follow arrests after the protests and the US-Israeli war that began on February 28. On July 13, the Ministry of Intelligence listed dozens of media networks, 61 individual “human-media” figures and 310 accounts or online pages as “hostile media”, warning that sending them photographs, video or information could lead to prison and permanent exclusion from public employment unless a more serious charge is invoked.
