Iranian teen protester risks execution over policeman's killing: NGO

An Iranian teenager who took part in nationwide protests in January is facing execution after being convicted on charges of killing a policeman during the demonstrations, an NGO said on Thursday.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said that Saleh Mohammadi, 18, had already been sentenced to death, although the Iranian judiciary said no final and “enforceable” verdict had been issued in the case.

According to IHR, the court had also ordered that the hanging of Mohammadi take place in public at the scene of the alleged crime in the central city of Qom.

Iran’s hardline judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei has warned there will be “no leniency” against those convicted of violent acts during the protests.

Rights groups accuse security forces of killing thousands in their crackdown on the protests, which authorities blamed on the US and Israel.

IHR said that Mohammadi, who had taken part in international wrestling competitions, had been convicted and sentenced to death by a court in Qom on February 3 for killing the policeman on January 8.

It said Mohammadi “was forced to make self-incriminating confessions in the investigation phase which he later retracted in court”, but the court then rejected this.

IHR said “hundreds” of people are facing charges linked to the protests that could see them sentenced to death. The group said this was the first death sentence it had confirmed although several others may already have been issued.

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency confirmed that Mohammadi was under arrest but added that “no final and enforceable sentence has been handed down to him”.

Death sentences in Iran can be appealed. IHR said Mohammadi had 20 days to appeal under the law but warned there had in the past been cases of people being executed before this period elapsed.

More than 7,000 people were killed during the protests, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency NGO, the vast majority — 6,506 of them — being protesters shot dead by security forces.

“After the unprecedented mass killing of protesters, Islamic Republic authorities are now seeking to terrorise society through the execution of detained protesters,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

“Saleh’s death sentence marks a dangerous escalation,” he added.

Iran is the world’s most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups. Last year it hanged at least 1,500 people, according to figures from IHR which also says it executed 12 people in cases linked to a wave of protests in 2022-2023.