A man who took part in January’s protests in Iran has been executed, the judiciary’s news outlet Mizan announced on Thursday.
Amirhossein Hatami was found guilty of entering a restricted military site in Tehran, where he allegedly damaged and set fire to the facility, and attempted to seize weapons and ammunition. His appeal against the conviction was rejected, and the Supreme Court subsequently upheld his sentence. Mizan reported that Mr Hatami had admitted to these charges during his interrogation.
The first deputy chief of the Judiciary, Hamzeh Khalili, said last month that cases linked to January protests – a nationwide anti-government movement repressed in what authorities described as the biggest crackdown in the Islamic Republic’s history – had been finalised and sentences were being implemented.
Hatami was among 11 men referred to by rights group Amnesty International as being at imminent risk of execution and who had been “subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in detention, before being convicted in grossly unfair trials that relied on forced confessions.”
Last month, Iran executed three men convicted of killing two police officers during January protests, raising concern among rights groups such as Hengaw that Tehran is intensifying executions against political detainees and protesters amid mounting military and international pressure.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said U.S. forces will keep hitting Iran “very hard” in the next two or three weeks and bring the country “back to the Stone Ages,” even as he touted the success of U.S. operations and argued that all of Washington’s objectives have so far been met or exceeded.
Trump said Iran would continue to face a barrage of attacks in the short term.
“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” Trump said. “We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”
Trump didn’t say anything about negotiations with Iran or bring up the April 6 deadline he set for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway for global oil and gas transport. He has threatened to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure if the strait was not reopened.Trump also did not offer a clear path to end the supply disruptions that have sent energy prices soaring.
He did not mention the possibility of sending U.S. ground troops into Iran, or NATO, the trans-Atlantic alliance he has railed against for not helping the U.S. secure the waterway.
Oil rose more than 6% and Asian stocks fell after the comments. Oil prices were sharply higher following Trump’s remarks. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 4.9% to $106.16 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 4% to $104.15 a barrel.
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