On Thursday 8th December, the Iranian authorities confirmed the execution of one of the arrested protesters which they had charged with âenmity with Godâ or “Moharebeh”. The 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari was accused of having blocked a road in Tehran during a protest and of having injured a member of the paramilitary force, Basij. He was one of the thousands arrested by the authorities as they attempt to crack down on anti-regime unrest. The protests which are the longest-running yet under the Islamic republic began in the middle of September after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died in police custody for being arrested for ‘improper hijab’. Shekari was one of a few so far to have been sentenced to death and the first to be executed. His arrest, trial, and execution took less than two and a half months. Reportedly, he was denied access to a lawyer of his choice throughout his interrogation and the legal proceedings. He was tried and sentenced under circumstances that could safely be described as a show trial with chilling 20th-century connotations.
Shekariâs hanging by the authorities further provoked the anger of many Iranians who took to the streets in the evening, chanting about injustice and revenge. Later a video of a woman confronting a member of parliament out in the public went viral. The video shows her heckling the smiling MP with cries of âShame on you!â angrily adding âyou have spilled innocent blood and now laughing about itâ. On Sunday 11th December, a theologian close to the Iranian regime and Iranâs former Attorney General, Ayatollah Moghtadai commented publicly (in an unprecedented turn) which cast doubts on the theological validity of the recent execution. Moghtadai was asked to define âMoharebehâ as a concept and he apparently explained that, according to the Islamic penal code, not all those charged with âenmity with Godâ can necessarily be sentenced to death. He later added that “those who had not killed others (which would apply to the newly executed Shekari) may be ‘Moharebs’ but shouldnât be executed”.
He was tried and sentenced under circumstances that could safely be described as a show trial with chilling 20th-century connotations.
Though Mohsen Shekari was the first protester to be executed by the Iranian regime, but he was not the last. Less than a week later on Monday 12th December, a second protester âconvictedâ of the same charge of âenmity with Godâ was hanged by the authorities. This time the 23-year-old Majidreza Rahnavard was executed in public in the northeastern city of Mashhad. He was hanged only 23 days after his arrest. Therefore it isnât too difficult to speculate that the brutal occasion was used by the regime to make an example of a ârioterâ who was accused of having stabbed two members of the Basij paramilitary during a protest. At the time of writing, at least nine others have been placed on death row, one as young as 19 years old. All of them have been convicted in sham televised trials with vague theological charges such as âenmity with Godâ or âspreading corruption on earthâ. It is highly probable that by the time you read this article, more protesters have been executed by the Islamic Republic.Â
This is not the first time the Islamic Republic has used show trials. It did so after the crackdown on the nationwide anti-government protests in 2009. Then just like now many were tortured in prisons into signing their confessions and reading from them on live television. Incidentally, they were read in front of the same notorious judge who sentenced Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to years in prison on trumped-up spying charges. According to Amnesty International, these courts âoperate under the influence of security and intelligence forces to impose harsh sentences following grossly unfair trials marked by summary and predominantly secret processesâ. The televised trials of those the regime deems ârioters instigated by foreign powersâ are used to instill fear in the hearts and minds of those who would have previously felt brave enough to take to the streets and express dissent. The Islamic Republic is now gambling on its ability to scare its people into submission. To restore order through fear. Their gamble may pay off or it may backfire.Â
It is highly probable that by the time you read this article, more protesters have been executed by the Islamic Republic.Â
The theocratic regime which has ruled Iran since 1979 has based its legal system on its particular interpretations of Shia Muslim theology. Its judiciary, far from being independent, has its head appointed by the regimeâs âsupremeâ leader. The octogenarian âAyatollahâ Khamenei, is an uncompromising cleric who has ruled Iran since 1989, replacing the Islamic Republicâs founder who himself took over the reins after the revolution in 1979.Â
Perhaps having lived and ruled through the collapse of the Soviet Union on Iranâs northern borders, Khamenei has become convinced that his regime would collapse if he makes any concessions to those demanding reforms and further liberalisation. A few days before the first execution, Khamenei spoke out in public on how he thought his regime should respond to a âsmall group of riotersâ. He used an analogy that may be deeply revealing of the kind of harsh crackdown he envisages. He explained that âin the old days, sometimes doctors used to heat up a piece of iron in the fire and place it on wounds for them to healâ. He must have been referring to quack doctors trained in pseudo-science before the advent of modern medicine. Yet like the medieval quack doctors, Khamenei seems to admire, he might be on the verge of making a terrible situation even worse, proscribing bloodletting for an already ailing body politic.Â
It has exhausted any potential for internal and incremental reform. It has been isolated from the world, now only seeking refuge in alliance with Putinâs Russia
For now, the Iranian dictatorship seems to believe that it can scare protesting Iranians back to submission, like in previous rounds. The regime faced off civil unrest in 1999, 2009, 2017, and between 2018 and 2019 with brutal crackdowns. Yet the Islamic Republic and its leader is now the least popular it’s ever been, with the lowest-ever turnout in its elections. It has exhausted any potential for internal and incremental reform. It has been isolated from the world, now only seeking refuge in alliance with Putinâs Russia, supplying it with drones in its invasion of Ukraine. It has purged the reformists who had partly been discredited in the eyes of millions through their own timidity. Now the regime finds itself alone, cornered. Seeking to fight its way out of the present âcrisisâ by doubling down on brutality. Yet it forgets that in the arithmetic of counterinsurgency, killing protestors does not subtract from a regimeâs opponents but in fact add to them. With every execution and by aggrieving more families, the Islamic Republic recruits more supporters for its opposition.Â
Image credit: english.khamenei.ir from commons.wikimedia.org
Image description: Ayatollah Khamenei meets Vladimir Putin on November 23, 2015.
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Executing protesters: How the Iranian dictatorship took crackdown to a new level
On Thursday 8th December, the Iranian authorities confirmed the execution of one of the arrested protesters which they had charged with âenmity with Godâ or “Moharebeh”. The 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari was accused of having blocked a road in Tehran during a protest and of having injured a member of the paramilitary force, Basij. He was one of the thousands arrested by the authorities as they attempt to crack down on anti-regime unrest. The protests which are the longest-running yet under the Islamic republic began in the middle of September after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died in police custody for being arrested for ‘improper hijab’. Shekari was one of a few so far to have been sentenced to death and the first to be executed. His arrest, trial, and execution took less than two and a half months. Reportedly, he was denied access to a lawyer of his choice throughout his interrogation and the legal proceedings. He was tried and sentenced under circumstances that could safely be described as a show trial with chilling 20th-century connotations.
Shekariâs hanging by the authorities further provoked the anger of many Iranians who took to the streets in the evening, chanting about injustice and revenge. Later a video of a woman confronting a member of parliament out in the public went viral. The video shows her heckling the smiling MP with cries of âShame on you!â angrily adding âyou have spilled innocent blood and now laughing about itâ. On Sunday 11th December, a theologian close to the Iranian regime and Iranâs former Attorney General, Ayatollah Moghtadai commented publicly (in an unprecedented turn) which cast doubts on the theological validity of the recent execution. Moghtadai was asked to define âMoharebehâ as a concept and he apparently explained that, according to the Islamic penal code, not all those charged with âenmity with Godâ can necessarily be sentenced to death. He later added that “those who had not killed others (which would apply to the newly executed Shekari) may be ‘Moharebs’ but shouldnât be executed”.
Though Mohsen Shekari was the first protester to be executed by the Iranian regime, but he was not the last. Less than a week later on Monday 12th December, a second protester âconvictedâ of the same charge of âenmity with Godâ was hanged by the authorities. This time the 23-year-old Majidreza Rahnavard was executed in public in the northeastern city of Mashhad. He was hanged only 23 days after his arrest. Therefore it isnât too difficult to speculate that the brutal occasion was used by the regime to make an example of a ârioterâ who was accused of having stabbed two members of the Basij paramilitary during a protest. At the time of writing, at least nine others have been placed on death row, one as young as 19 years old. All of them have been convicted in sham televised trials with vague theological charges such as âenmity with Godâ or âspreading corruption on earthâ. It is highly probable that by the time you read this article, more protesters have been executed by the Islamic Republic.Â
This is not the first time the Islamic Republic has used show trials. It did so after the crackdown on the nationwide anti-government protests in 2009. Then just like now many were tortured in prisons into signing their confessions and reading from them on live television. Incidentally, they were read in front of the same notorious judge who sentenced Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to years in prison on trumped-up spying charges. According to Amnesty International, these courts âoperate under the influence of security and intelligence forces to impose harsh sentences following grossly unfair trials marked by summary and predominantly secret processesâ. The televised trials of those the regime deems ârioters instigated by foreign powersâ are used to instill fear in the hearts and minds of those who would have previously felt brave enough to take to the streets and express dissent. The Islamic Republic is now gambling on its ability to scare its people into submission. To restore order through fear. Their gamble may pay off or it may backfire.Â
The theocratic regime which has ruled Iran since 1979 has based its legal system on its particular interpretations of Shia Muslim theology. Its judiciary, far from being independent, has its head appointed by the regimeâs âsupremeâ leader. The octogenarian âAyatollahâ Khamenei, is an uncompromising cleric who has ruled Iran since 1989, replacing the Islamic Republicâs founder who himself took over the reins after the revolution in 1979.Â
Perhaps having lived and ruled through the collapse of the Soviet Union on Iranâs northern borders, Khamenei has become convinced that his regime would collapse if he makes any concessions to those demanding reforms and further liberalisation. A few days before the first execution, Khamenei spoke out in public on how he thought his regime should respond to a âsmall group of riotersâ. He used an analogy that may be deeply revealing of the kind of harsh crackdown he envisages. He explained that âin the old days, sometimes doctors used to heat up a piece of iron in the fire and place it on wounds for them to healâ. He must have been referring to quack doctors trained in pseudo-science before the advent of modern medicine. Yet like the medieval quack doctors, Khamenei seems to admire, he might be on the verge of making a terrible situation even worse, proscribing bloodletting for an already ailing body politic.Â
For now, the Iranian dictatorship seems to believe that it can scare protesting Iranians back to submission, like in previous rounds. The regime faced off civil unrest in 1999, 2009, 2017, and between 2018 and 2019 with brutal crackdowns. Yet the Islamic Republic and its leader is now the least popular it’s ever been, with the lowest-ever turnout in its elections. It has exhausted any potential for internal and incremental reform. It has been isolated from the world, now only seeking refuge in alliance with Putinâs Russia, supplying it with drones in its invasion of Ukraine. It has purged the reformists who had partly been discredited in the eyes of millions through their own timidity. Now the regime finds itself alone, cornered. Seeking to fight its way out of the present âcrisisâ by doubling down on brutality. Yet it forgets that in the arithmetic of counterinsurgency, killing protestors does not subtract from a regimeâs opponents but in fact add to them. With every execution and by aggrieving more families, the Islamic Republic recruits more supporters for its opposition.Â
Image credit: english.khamenei.ir from commons.wikimedia.org
Image description: Ayatollah Khamenei meets Vladimir Putin on November 23, 2015.
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