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| Iran executes 2 men accused of seeking to topple the state |
| 2010-01-29 |
| TEHRAN, Iran — Iran on Thursday executed two men accused of involvement in an armed anti-government group, as the public prosecutor announced that new death sentences have been issued against opposition activists involved in protests over June's disputed presidential election. The two men, who were hanged before dawn Thursday, did not appear to be connected to the postelection protests - at least one of them was arrested before the election, according to his lawyer. But state media depicted the two as part of the protest movement, a sign of how the government has lumped together many of its enemies with the political opposition amid its postelection crackdown. The media's depiction of the executions may aim to intimidate the opposition ahead of new street demonstrations expected in February. In a further move likely aimed at cowing protesters, Tehran's prosecutor announced that five people have been sentenced to death for involvement in the most recent major demonstrations, on Dec. 27. That day saw the worst violence of postelection crackdown, with at least eight people killed in clashes between police and protesters and hundreds arrested. The new verdicts raise to nine the number of people sentenced to death for involvement in protests, said the prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi. He also announced that another group of the postelection detainees would go on trial on Saturday. He said the trial will demonstrate the role of "leftists, Bahais and those who were directed by foreign hands" in the postelection turmoil. He did not say how many new defendants would go on trial. Iranian authorities regularly accuse the U.S., Britain and other foreign enemies of fueling the unrest in a bid to oust the country's clerical leaders. They have also accused followers of the Baha'i faith, which is illegal in Iran because it is seen as heretical. The two men who were executed, Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour, were convicted by a Revolutionary Court of belonging to "counterrevolutionary and monarchist groups," plotting to overthrow "the Islamic establishment" and planning assassinations and bombings, Dowlatabadi told state TV. He said the two confessed during the trial and that an appeals court upheld their death sentences. He made no mention of the postelection protests in connection to the case. Rahmanipour's lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, told the Associated Press Thursday that the 20-year-old Rahmanipour was arrested in April on the charge of membership in an armed opposition group, the Royal Association of Iran. She said his trial and verdict were "unfair and illegal," saying his lawyer was not allowed to participate in the court sessions and he was forced to confess. She said she and Rahmanipour's relatives had not been notified of any appeal's court ruling upholding the death sentences. Iran's English language channel, Press TV, said that among the charges against the two was that they had a role in the 2008 bombing of a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz. Still, state TV portrayed the executions as part of the postelection crackdown. In a report aired on the channel and reported on its Web site, it said Rahmanipour and Zamani were among those sentenced to death "in the wake of the rioting and counterrevolutionary and antiestablishment acts of recent months." |
| Posted by:Steve White |