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As mass demonstrations continued in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, the country executed a man for injuring a paramilitary officer on Thursday, CNN reported citing the state media.
According to Iranian media, this is the first execution related to the protests that have been made public. The person, identified as Mohsen Shekari, was found guilty of using a machete to hurt a security official while blocking a street in the Iranian capital of Tehran. The security officer was a member of the Basij paramilitary force -- a wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guard -- injured by Shekari with a knife at a protest in Tehran on September 23. Shekari was sentenced to death on October 23, CNN reported citing Mizan Online, a news agency affiliated with Iran's judiciary. Several Iranians have received death-by-execution sentences during the nationwide demonstrations that were spurred by the killing of Mahsa Amini, 22, who was killed after being detained by the state's morality police for reportedly not properly donning her headscarf. According to Amnesty International, as of November, Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 21 people in connection with the protests. Last year, in Iran, at least 333 people were executed, according to the Iran Human Rights. The report further revealed that 55 executions, which contribute 16.5 per cent, were announced by official sources. As many as 83.5 per cent of all executions included in the 2021 report (278 executions in total) were not announced by the authorities. At least 183 executions (55 per cent of all executions) were for murder charges, according to the report. Iran has suspended its so-called morality police, which penalised women for not adhering to a stringent dress code, the Iranian prosecutor general said after the anti-hijab protest continued into the third month, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the police force. Iran's Attorney General Mohammad Javad Montazeri said the morality police "was abolished by the same authorities who installed it", The New York Times reported. He made this statement during the meeting where officials were discussing the unrest ignited by the death of the young woman, Mahsa Amini, 22, in September in the custody of the morality police. The unrest has amounted to one of the biggest challenges in decades to Iran's system of authoritarian clerical rule. Earlier on Thursday, India abstained from voting on a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution to set up a fact-finding mission to investigate the alleged Human Rights violation committed on protesters in Iran that started on September 16. Taking to Twitter, United Nations Human Right Council said, "At its 35th special session, the @UN Human Rights Council decided to create a new fact-finding mission to investigate "alleged #HumanRightsViolations in the Islamic Republic of #Iran related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022." Notably, Amini was arrested in Tehran on September 13 for dressing "inappropriately." Three days later, she died while in custody. It sparked demonstrations and clashes with security forces where many people lost their lives. (ANI)
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