'I swear to God I am innocent': Iran executes 3 Zhina Amini protesters

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran on Friday executed three men for their involvement in last year's nationwide demonstrations. Human rights watchdogs said they had confessed under "violent" torture and constant threats from security forces.

Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were arrested in November for taking part in protests sparked by the death of a young Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini while in police custody. They were sentenced to death in December and January, and the verdicts were upheld earlier this month.

The families of the three men were permitted to visit on Wednesday, when they were told by authorities that it would be their final visit, according to Amnesty International.

They were convicted of killing three security force members during the protests and executed on the charge of moharebeh (enmity against God), Iran's judiciary reported on Friday morning, claiming that the verdict was issued based on evidence and "explicit" confessions from the men.

The judiciary also accused the men of making and throwing Molotov cocktails and having links to "terrorist" groups and called the defendants "leaders of the disturbance and chaos."

Amnesty International on Wednesday urged the international community to take "bold" action to prevent their execution, saying their "fast-tracked" trials were a "brazen disregard for the rights to life" and the verdicts a "blatant act of vengeance" against those who stood up to the regime during the Amini protests.

The men were forced to make self-incriminating confessions, following beatings, electric shocks, and mock executions, as well as threats to execute and harass their family members and rape the defendants themselves, according to Amnesty.

"I swear to God I am innocent. I didn't have any weapons on me. They [security forces] kept beating me and ordering me to say this weapon is mine. ... I told them I would say whatever they wanted, just please leave my family alone. I did whatever they wanted because of the torture," the human rights monitor transcribed an audio message from Kazemi inside prison.

Citing informed sources, Amnesty said the men's families had been repeatedly told they would be released due to lack of evidence.

Iran executed at least 576 people last year, a significant increase from 314 in 2021, making it the country with the second highest rate of known executions during 2022, according to the annual report from Amnesty International. This year, after last fall's widespread demonstrations and a crackdown on the drug trade, Iran has carried out an alarming number of executions. 

Many of those who are executed have made video-taped confessions that are frequently condemned by rights groups who say they are often obtained under duress.

Twenty-two-year-old Amini died in police custody last September after being detained for allegedly violating the strict dress code that requires women to cover their hair. Authorities claimed that the cause of death was a heart attack, but human rights activists and witnesses said she had been beaten inside the police van, leading to her death.

Amini's death sparked nationwide protests initially calling for greater freedoms, before growing into a revolution with calls for the overthrow of the Islamic regime. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its paramilitary Basij led a violent crackdown against the protesters, killing hundreds of people and wounding thousands others.

The protests have been quietened, but Iran's crackdown was harshly condemned by the international community.

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