Is Iran issuing death sentences to Mahsa Amini protesters?

An Iranian court has issued its first death sentence related to the anti-government protests that have rocked the country following the death of Mahsa Amini.

Thousands have taken to the streets across the country sparked by outrage over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who died in custody after being detained by Tehran’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.

According to Mizan, the official news site of the country’s judiciary, Iran’s revolutionary court confirmed on Sunday that an as-yet-unnamed individual had been sentenced to execution for “setting fire to a government centre, disturbing public order and collusion for committing crimes against national security” in addition to “moharebeh” (waging war against God) and “corruption on Earth”.

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The court also handed out prison terms of between five and ten years to five others described by the authorities as “rioters” on national security-related charges.

How many more will be sentenced to death?

There had been confusion on social media over the number of those sentenced to death in Iran, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau having to delete a tweet that contained false information. It appears that Trudeau got the information from “a picture on Instagram showing a woman holding an Iranian flag with the caption ‘Iran sentences 15,000 protesters to death – as a hard lesson for all rebels’”, reported CNN.

Trudeau tweeted on Monday that Canada denounces the “Iranian regime’s barbaric decision to impose the death penalty on nearly 15,000 protestors”. The tweet was up for 12 hours before being taken down. “The post was informed by initial reporting that was incomplete and lacked necessary context. Because of that, it has since been deleted,” a Canadian government spokesperson told CNN.

So far only one person has officially been sentenced to death. But the United Nations warned last week that others are at risk of receiving a similar sentence.

“With the continuous repression of protests, many more indictments on charges carrying the death penalty and death sentences might soon be issued”, UN experts said.

What sparked the protests?

Iran has been rocked by anti-regime protests since mid-September “in the greatest demonstration of dissent in recent years”, according to CNN.

A photo widely circulated on social media showing Amini “lying comatose in a hospital” became “the heart of a rallying cry for Iranians who want more freedoms and rights for women”, said NPR.

While initially focused on the treatment of women under Iran’s strict Islamic laws, the protests have struck a “national nerve,” said The New York Times, “broadening to reflect ordinary Iranians’ anger over their living conditions after years of US-led sanctions that have hobbled the economy, as well as widespread corruption and economic mismanagement”.

“With extraordinary scenes of dissent and calls to end the Islamic Republic, the protests have become one of the most visible challenges to the government since the last wave of unrest in 2019, which was met with a deadly response”, the paper added.

How has the government responded?

Almost two months of protests sparked by the death of Amini have “shaken the country’s clerical leadership” and “prompted authorities to unleash a crackdown that has seen thousands detained”, reported Radio Free Europe.

According to activist news agency Hrana, more than 15,000 Iranians have been arrested and several hundred killed so far, with the judiciary confirming more than 1,000 indictments have been issued in Tehran alone, with hundreds more brought across the country.

Iranian authorities, who claim that Amini died of pre-existing medical conditions, have sought to frame the protests as riots incited by third-party countries to destabilise the regime.

The first public courts related to the protests were held in late October in Tehran, with Al Jazeera reporting “leading members of the political establishment calling for fast-tracked courts to punish ‘rioters’ and deter further protests”.

“There is little expectation of fair trials for detained demonstrators, bystanders and chroniclers of the uprising,” said The Washington Post. “Iran’s judicial system is stacked against the accused and dominated by the country’s security services. Rights groups warn that these are sham trials, with detainees often forced or tortured into providing false confessions based on made-up evidence.”

The threat of death is very real, however, with Amnesty International estimating at least 314 people were executed in Iran last year, a total second only to China’s.

What will happen next?

It remains to be seen whether the government’s brutal crackdown, and imposing death sentences on protesters, will be enough to quell the unrest.

In a bid to stop protesters galvanising support, and to track events “the government has significantly curbed the three main operators providing mobile internet service, severely disrupted internet in areas where protests are taking place and blocked platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram,” The Washington Post reported.

Yet support for the protests, both within Iran and abroad, continues to grow.

“Despite the threat of arrests – and harsher punishments for those involved – Iranian celebrities and athletes have stepped forward to support the anti-government protests in recent weeks,” said CNN.

This week, Britain joined the EU in announcing further sanctions against Iranian officials and entities involved in repressing protesters. It follows a joint request led by Germany and Iceland last week on behalf of 42 countries to hold a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Iran’s protests.

Summing up the existential threat the authorities face, on Monday French President Emmanuel Macron once more referred to the ongoing protests in Iran as a “revolution” days after he met with several female activists.

“Something unprecedented is happening,” Macron said in an interview. “The grandchildren of the revolution are carrying out a revolution.”