26 protesters facing execution in Iran: Amnesty

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Human rights watchdog Amnesty International called on Iran to end its executions of protesters in a letter published on Friday.

The letter said that 11 people had already been sentenced to death with another 15 charged with similar crimes which could see them hanged.

At least two young men have already been executed after having been arrested during the nationwide protests that entered their fourth consecutive month on Friday as hundreds of protesters were seen taking to the streets in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan.

“The 26 individuals have all been denied fair trials, including the rights to adequate defense and access to lawyers of their choosing; to be presumed innocent; to remain silent; and to receive a fair, public hearing,” Amnesty wrote in the letter addressed to Iran’s head of judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei.

The protests — which broke out after the death of a young Kurdish woman, Jina Mahsa Amini, in custody after being arrested for allegedly not abiding by the country’s strict dress code — have seen hundreds of people killed in street clashes with the police.

Tens of thousands of people have also been arrested and detained in high-security prisons.

The violent crackdown has been met with condemnation as well as sanctions from the EU, US and Canada among others.

The UN General Assembly voted late on Thursday to condemn the human rights situation in Iran, including discrimination against women and the violent response to peaceful protesters.

The protests have been called the biggest threat to the Islamic Republic’s regime of clerics since the Iranian revolution in 1979 that first brought them to power.