Iran executes 3 over anti-govt protests

Tehran, May 19

Iran on Friday executed three men it said were implicated in the deaths of three members of its security forces during last year’s anti-government protests, the country’s judiciary said.

Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were executed in the central city of Isfahan, said the judiciary in a statement on Twitter, adding that they had “martyred” two members of the Basij paramilitary force and a law enforcement officer.

Friday’s executions brought to at least seven the number of protesters hanged since the beginning of the nationwide protests that began last autumn. They were ignited by the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s morality police on September 16.

In anticipation of their execution, the three men on Wednesday appealed in a handwritten note for public support, saying, “Don’t let them kill us. We need your help,” said the note that went viral on internet. — Reuters