Iran Executes 23-Year-Old Over Protests

Iran says it has publicly hanged a 23-year-old in what is the second execution linked to the recent anti-government protests.

Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged early on Monday in the city of Mashhad, the judiciary said.

The 23 year-old was convicted for “enmity against God” after it was found that he stabbed to death two members of the paramilitary Basij Resistance Force, the BBC says.

Rahnavard was hanged just 23 days after his arrest.

Rahnavard’s family was not aware that he was going to be executed, according to the opposition activist collective 1500tasvir.

1500tasvir tweeted that the family were telephoned by an official at 07:00 local time and told: “We have killed your son and buried his body in Behesht-e Reza cemetery.”

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency said Rahnavard was hanged “in the presence of a group of Mashhadi citizens” and posted several pre-dawn photographs reportedly showing the execution.

In two of the photos, a man could be seen hanging from the cable of a crane.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Norway-based Iran Human Rights, said on Twitter that Rahnavard’s sentencing was based on “coerced confessions, after a grossly unfair process and a show trial”.