Iran executes first known prisoner arrested in protests
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran said Thursday it executed a prisoner over his conviction for a crime allegedly committed during the country’s ongoing nationwide protests, the first such death penalty carried out by Tehran.
Iran’s Mizan news agency reported the execution. It accused the man of blocking a street and attacking a security force member with a machete in Tehran.
The Mizan news agency, run by the country’s judiciary, identified the executed man as Mohsen Shekari. It said he had been convicted in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, which typically holds closed-door cases that have been internationally criticized in other cases.
Mizan said Shekari had been arrested Sept. 25, then convicted Nov. 20 on the charge of “moharebeh,” a Farsi word meaning “waging war against God.” That charge has been levied against others in the decades since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and carries the death penalty.
