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Iran Sentences Three More To Death Over Protests

Published

3 years ago

January 9, 2023

Iran has sentenced to death three more people, accused of killing three members of the security forces during the protests triggered by Mahsa Amini’s death, the judiciary said Monday.

The Islamic republic has been rocked by civil unrest since the September 16 death of Kurdish Iranian Amini, 22, following her arrest for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women.
The latest sentences, which can still be appealed, bring to 17 the total number of people condemned to death in connection with the more than three months of protests.

Four of those convicted have been executed and two others are on death row after their sentences were upheld by the country’s supreme court.

Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were sentenced to death on charges of “moharebeh” — or waging “war against God” — under Iran’s Islamic sharia law, the judiciary’s Mizan Online news website reported.

In addition, they were all found guilty of belonging to a “criminal group with the intention of disrupting the security of the country”, a charge that carries a 10-year jail term.

Two others were handed prison terms for the incident that led to the deaths of the three security force members in the central province of Isfahan on November 16, Mizan said.

One of them is professional footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani, 26, who received sentences totalling 26 years in prison on three different charges including assisting in “moharebeh”.

According to Iranian law, however, he should serve them concurrently, meaning he would be behind bars for 16 years, it said.

Nasr-Azadani’s case and the risk of him being sentenced to death had raised alarm abroad, mainly by FIFPRO, the world union of professional footballers.

All the sentences announced can be appealed before the country’s supreme court, Mizan said.

Videos of the court sessions were published by Mizan, along with CCTV images purportedly showing the crimes being committed, and the confessions of the accused.

Iranian authorities say hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed and thousands arrested during the protests which they have generally labelled “riots”.

Tehran accuses hostile foreign countries and opposition groups of stoking the unrest.

On Saturday, Iran executed Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini for killing a paramilitary force member in November, in Karaj west of Tehran.

Two other men, Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, were put to death in December after being convicted of separate attacks on security forces.

The executions have sparked global outrage and new Western sanctions against Tehran.

According to London-based rights group Amnesty International, Iran is second only to China in its use of the death penalty, with at least 314 people executed in 2021.

AFP

Headline

42 Killed In Israeli Attacks, Says Gaza’s Civil Defense

Published

4 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported at least 42 people killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, as the Israeli army prepared for a new assault on the Palestinian territory’s largest city.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there had been several air strikes around Gaza City — which the military is gearing up to capture — including one in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood that killed eight people.

Attacks were also reported elsewhere across the territory, he said, with the “total tally currently rising to 42 dead”.

The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the figure.

“The situation is extremely dangerous… Each day, each minute, there are bombings, martyrs, death and blood — we can’t take it anymore,” Al-Sabra resident Ibrahim Al-Shurafa told AFP, explaining strikes and shelling were ongoing.

“We don’t know where to go. Death follows us everywhere,” he added.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,686 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

AFP

Headline

Venezuela Frees Eight Opposition Leaders

Published

4 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Venezuelan authorities released eight opposition leaders from jail early Sunday, including a former congressman and two Italian citizens, and granted house arrest to five others, an opposition politician said.

Most of those released had been charged with corruption in opposition-run mayoral offices.

Also set free was Congressman, Amirico de Grazia, detained amid protests that erupted during President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection in 2024.

“Today, several families are once again embracing their loved ones. We know there are many left, and we have not forgotten them; we continue to fight for everyone,” two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on X.

Opposition leaders Victor Jurado, Simon Vargas, Arelis Ojeda Escalante, Mayra Castro, Diana Berrio, Gorka Carnevalli, as well as Italian nationals Margarita Assenzo and de Grazia were released, Capriles said.

Nabil Maalouf, Valentin Gutierrez Pineda, Rafael Ramirez, Pedro Guanipa, and David Barroso were placed under house arrest.

The Italian government confirmed the release of de Grazia and Assenzo, who must appear in court to clarify the conditions of their release. It also vowed to continue working on securing the release of other detained Italians.

“We have always said, and we maintain it: we will talk to whomever we need to talk to so that there is not a single political prisoner in our Venezuela!” Capriles added.

AFP

Headline

Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

Published

5 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Russia and Ukraine each sent back more prisoners of war on Sunday in the latest in a series of exchanges that have seen hundreds of POWs released this year, the two sides said.

Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July.

They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s offensive began in 2022.

“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.

“In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added. Ukraine did not confirm any figures for the release.

Russia also said that “eight citizens of the Russian Federation—residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv were also returned.

Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year, seizing hundreds of square kilometres (miles) of territory in a major setback for the Kremlin.

Russia deployed thousands of troops from its ally North Korea as part of a counterattack but did not fully reclaim the region until April.

Among the Ukrainians released on Sunday was journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Khyliuk was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022. He is finally home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media.

Also freed was former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, “who spent more than three years in captivity,” Zelensky’s aide Andriy Yermak wrote on X.

“In 2022, he was on the list for return, but Volodymyr voluntarily refused to be exchanged in favour of a seriously ill prisoner with whom he was sharing a cell in a Russian prison,” Yermak said.

AFP