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WASHINGTON DC, United States - Angry demonstrations were staged in the US capital on Saturday, slamming the execution of protesters in Iran, with prominent Iranian-American women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad labeling the Islamic republic as a “threat” to the international community.
Since the beginning of the year, Iran has executed four individuals in connection with anti-government protests, largely following questionable trials without any due process, and has also handed death sentences to 17 other people, according to the UN.
"The Islamic republic is not just a threat to Iranian people, it is a threat to the people of Ukraine. Right now that I am talking to you, Khamenei [Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] is sending drones to Putin to kill innocent Ukrainians,” Alinejad told Rudaw.
"So the Islamic republic is a threat for the region, for the whole world," she added.
Ukraine and its western allies have accused Iran of supplying “kamikaze” drones to Russia to use in its war, using them to target critical Ukrainian infrastructure and residential areas.
Iran has been rocked by nearly four months of nationwide anti-government protests that stemmed from the death of young Kurdish woman, Zhina (Mahsa) Amini, in September at the hands of Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code.
At least 522 people, including 70 children, have been killed to the latest tally by US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) while thousands have been arrested.
The violent crackdown has prompted a series of protests in solidarity around the globe, including in North America since mid-September.
“I wanted to be here for a long time because of the demographics of the Iranians that live here, the diversity, and how it is not polarized according to different political views,” Shirin Nashat, a famous Iranian visual artist said.
Iran is weaponizing the death penalty to suppress dissent and strike fear into its population, and the questionable trials involved in the execution of protesters amount to state-sanctioned killing, the United Nations said last week.
In its annual world report on global rights conditions published on Thursday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned Iran for conducting unfair trials and obtaining confessions under duress, as well as for charges brought against dual nationals.
“Iranian courts, and particularly revolutionary courts, regularly fall far short of providing fair trials and use confessions likely obtained under torture as evidence in court,” the report read.
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