Iran has executed three men accused of killing police officers during anti-government protests in January, state media say, the first hangings to be carried out in relation to the demonstrations. Among the men was teenager Saleh Mohammadi, a member of Iran's national wrestling team, sources have told CBS, the BBC's US partner.
The executions took place on Thursday morning local time in the northern Qom province after the Supreme Court upheld their death sentences, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported. The nationwide protests, which began in December and escalated in January, were met with a violent crackdown by the Iranian authorities. Rights groups say thousands of people were killed.
Tasnim, a semi-official news agency associated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported that Mohammadi, Mehdi Ghasemi, and Saeed Davoudi were found guilty of killing two police officers in separate attacks in Qom. Tasnim said they were also convicted of moharebeh - waging war against God - one of the charges Iran uses to issue death sentences for protesters and opponents of the Islamic Republic.
According to rights groups, the three men had confessed under torture and were executed without a fair trial. Their deaths came a day after Iran executed a dual Iranian-Swedish national. Kouroush Keyvani was hanged after being found guilty of spying for Israel, Iran's judiciary news agency Mizan Online said. Keyvani was reportedly arrested during Iran's 12-day war with Israel last June.
The protests reportedly spread to 180 cities and towns in all 31 provinces, sparked by anger over the collapse of the Iranian currency and soaring cost of living. They quickly widened into demands for political change and became one of the most serious challenges to the clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
While a near total shutdown of the internet and communication services made it difficult to find out what was happening in the country, protesters told the BBC the lethal crackdown by security forces was unlike anything they had witnessed before. According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana), at least 7,000 people were killed in the January crackdown, including 6,488 protesters and 236 children.
The executions took place on Thursday morning local time in the northern Qom province after the Supreme Court upheld their death sentences, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported. The nationwide protests, which began in December and escalated in January, were met with a violent crackdown by the Iranian authorities. Rights groups say thousands of people were killed.
Tasnim, a semi-official news agency associated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported that Mohammadi, Mehdi Ghasemi, and Saeed Davoudi were found guilty of killing two police officers in separate attacks in Qom. Tasnim said they were also convicted of moharebeh - waging war against God - one of the charges Iran uses to issue death sentences for protesters and opponents of the Islamic Republic.
According to rights groups, the three men had confessed under torture and were executed without a fair trial. Their deaths came a day after Iran executed a dual Iranian-Swedish national. Kouroush Keyvani was hanged after being found guilty of spying for Israel, Iran's judiciary news agency Mizan Online said. Keyvani was reportedly arrested during Iran's 12-day war with Israel last June.
The protests reportedly spread to 180 cities and towns in all 31 provinces, sparked by anger over the collapse of the Iranian currency and soaring cost of living. They quickly widened into demands for political change and became one of the most serious challenges to the clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
While a near total shutdown of the internet and communication services made it difficult to find out what was happening in the country, protesters told the BBC the lethal crackdown by security forces was unlike anything they had witnessed before. According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana), at least 7,000 people were killed in the January crackdown, including 6,488 protesters and 236 children.
