The Young Iranians Facing Death Penalty over Protests 

Campaigners warn that more executions will inevitably follow without tougher international action. (AFP)
Campaigners warn that more executions will inevitably follow without tougher international action. (AFP)
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The Young Iranians Facing Death Penalty over Protests 

Campaigners warn that more executions will inevitably follow without tougher international action. (AFP)
Campaigners warn that more executions will inevitably follow without tougher international action. (AFP)

A doctor, rap artists and a footballer are among around two dozen Iranians who risk being hanged as Tehran uses capital punishment as an intimidation tactic to quell protests, rights groups say.  

The executions in the past week of Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, both 23 and the first people put to death over the protests, sparked an outcry, especially as Rahnavard was hanged from a crane in public rather than in prison.  

But campaigners warn that more executions will inevitably follow without tougher international action, with a dozen more people already sentenced to death over the protests and a similar number charged with crimes that could see them hanged. 

"Unless the political cost of the executions is increased significantly, we will be facing mass executions," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group. 

He accused Iran's leaders of using executions to "spread fear among people and save the regime from the nationwide protests".  

The largely peaceful demonstrations sparked by the death in September of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating Iran's strict dress code for women, are posing the biggest challenge to the republic since the 1979 revolution.  

There have been no reports of a slackening in protest activity in recent days, including after the executions, but the movement has been marked by phases of more and less intense demonstrations.  

Authorities describe those facing death sentences as "rioters" who are being judged in full accordance with the country's religious law.  

But activists express alarm over the use of vaguely worded legal charges against protesters, such as "enmity against God," "corruption on earth" and "armed rebellion", all of which are capital crimes in Iran.  

'Unfair trial, torture' 

Amnesty International currently confirms 11 cases of death sentences issued against individuals over the protests, and another nine cases where individuals have been charged with crimes that could see them given the death penalty.  

One young protester, Sahand Nourmohammad-Zadeh, was sentenced to death over charges -- which he denied -- that he did no more than tear down highway railings and set fire to rubbish bins and tires, the rights group said. 

Mohammad Ghobadlou, aged 22, was sentenced to death on charges of running over police officials with a car, killing one and injuring several others, Amnesty said, adding it had "serious concerns" he was subjected to torture and other abuse in jail.  

Saman Seydi, a young Kurdish rapper, was sentenced to death on charges of firing a pistol three times into the air during protests, the group said, adding it had received information he had also been subjected to torture to extract forced confessions.  

Before his arrest, Seydi had posted material on Instagram in support of the protests, while his rap songs had also been critical of the authorities.  

Hamid Ghare-Hasanlou, a doctor, and his wife Farzaneh Ghare-Hasanlou were on their way to the funeral of a killed protester when they were "caught up in the chaos" of a fatal assault on a member of the Basij militia, Amnesty said.  

Hamid Ghare-Hasanlou was sentenced to death and his wife to 25 years in prison, with the court relying on incriminating statements from his wife which Amnesty said were coerced and later retracted by her in court.  

Her husband was tortured in custody and hospitalized with broken ribs, it said. 

Mahan Sadrat, another young man Amnesty had been concerned about, was granted a stay of execution after a conviction based on allegations he had drawn a knife to attack an individual, his lawyer said Wednesday.  

Those who face the death penalty after being charged with capital crimes include Toomaj Salehi, 32, a prominent rapper who was charged "solely in connection with critical music and social media posts," Amnesty said, adding that he had been tortured in detention.  

The professional footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani, 26, is in a similar position after being charged over the deaths of three security officials in November in the city of Isfahan, it said.  

The world union of professional footballers FIFPRO said it was "shocked and sickened" by the reports he faces death.  

Executed 'at any moment' 

Campaigners are seeking to highlight all individuals facing the death penalty in the hope that increased scrutiny on specific cases can help spare lives.  

But they warn the executions often come with little or no advance notice. 

Rahnavard was hanged just 23 days after his arrest and shortly after a last meeting with his mother, who was given no inkling her son was about to be put to death.  

Activists were also unaware of Shekari's case until his execution was announced by state media. 

Amnesty said Iranian authorities are issuing, upholding and carrying out death sentences in a "speedy manner" and there is a "serious risk" that people whose death sentences have not been made public could be executed "at any moment".  

"The executions of two people connected to the protests in Iran are appalling, and we are extremely worried for the lives of others who have been similarly sentenced to death," the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights told AFP.  

It added that Iran had "ignored" its pleas not to carry out the executions. 



Swiftly Deporting Migrants to Libya Would Violate Court Order, US Judge Rules

Haitian immigrants gather at a park following a church service where they shared pizza and sought out answers about their legal status, Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Dumas, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Haitian immigrants gather at a park following a church service where they shared pizza and sought out answers about their legal status, Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Dumas, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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Swiftly Deporting Migrants to Libya Would Violate Court Order, US Judge Rules

Haitian immigrants gather at a park following a church service where they shared pizza and sought out answers about their legal status, Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Dumas, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Haitian immigrants gather at a park following a church service where they shared pizza and sought out answers about their legal status, Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Dumas, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A US judge said any effort by the Trump administration to deport migrants to Libya would clearly violate a prior court order barring officials from swiftly deporting migrants to countries other than their own without first weighing whether they risk persecution or torture if sent there.

US District Judge Brian Murphy issued an order restricting their removal on Wednesday after Reuters, citing three US officials, reported on Tuesday that the Trump administration may for the first time deport migrants to Libya despite previous US condemnation of Libya's harsh treatment of detainees.

Two of the officials said the US military could fly the migrants to the North African country as soon as Wednesday, but stressed that plans could change.

Reuters could not determine how many migrants would be sent to Libya or the nationalities of those the administration was eyeing for deportation, including whether any were Libyan nationals. The relatives of one Mexican national told Reuters he had been instructed to sign a document allowing for his deportation to the African nation.

Immigration rights advocates said in court filings that individuals potentially subject to deportation to Libya also included Filipino, Laotian and Vietnamese migrants.

When asked about the planned deportations, President Donald Trump said he did not know whether they were happening.

"You'll have to ask Homeland Security," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

The Pentagon referred queries to the White House. The White House and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.

A State Department spokesperson said: "We do not discuss the details of our diplomatic communications with other governments."

Libya's Government of National Unity said on Wednesday it rejected the use of Libyan territory as a destination for deporting migrants without its knowledge or consent. It also said there was no coordination with the United States regarding the transfer of migrants.

Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army, which controls eastern Libya, also rejected the idea, saying in a statement that taking in migrants deported from the US "violates the sovereignty of the homeland."

After news broke of the potential flight to Libya, lawyers for a group of migrants pursuing a class action lawsuit made an emergency request that Murphy block migrants from being deported to Libya or any country en route without ensuring their due process rights were met.

Murphy, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, wrote: "If there is any doubt — the Court sees none — the allegedly imminent removals, as reported by news agencies and as Plaintiffs seek to corroborate with class-member accounts and public information, would clearly violate this Court's Order."

The administration had recently argued that Murphy's prior order only applied to DHS and not the Department of Defense, which US officials told Reuters would be involved in flying migrants to Libya.

Murphy said on Wednesday that DHS could not "evade" his order by transferring responsibility to the Defense Department or any other agency.

Trump, a Republican who made immigration a major issue during his election campaign, has launched aggressive enforcement action since taking office, surging troops to the southern border and pledging to deport millions of immigrants in the United States illegally.

As of Monday, the Trump administration had deported 152,000 people, according to DHS.

The administration has tried to encourage migrants to leave voluntarily by threatening steep fines, trying to strip away legal status and deporting migrants to notorious prisons in Guantanamo Bay and El Salvador.

MEXICO TO LIBYA

Family members of a Mexican national said they feared he could be deported from the United States to Libya after he called them on Tuesday from immigration detention in Texas, saying he had been told to sign a document allowing for his deportation to the African nation.

Valentin Yah, 39, said several others of various nationalities at the immigration detention center in Pearsall, Texas, had been told to sign the same document, according to two of his family members.

His family members, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, said he was pleading with immigration officials to be sent to Mexico on Tuesday, only about 100 miles (160 km) from where he was detained.

"He's literally closer to his hometown in Mexico and begging them to send him back," one of his family members said.

Yah, an Indigenous Mexican from Yucatan, has a conviction for sexual abuse and served about 15 years in prison in the United States before being detained by immigration authorities, records show. He was ordered deported by an immigration judge in 2009, records show.

LIFE-THREATENING

In its annual human rights report last year before Trump took office in January, the US State Department criticized Libya's "harsh and life-threatening prison conditions." The department advises US citizens against visiting due to "crime, civil unrest, kidnapping and armed conflict."

Libya has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising, and it split in 2014 between eastern and western factions, with rival administrations governing in each area. Major fighting ended with a truce in 2020, but the underlying political dispute remains and there are sporadic clashes.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week hinted that Washington was looking to expand the number of countries where it may deport people beyond El Salvador.

"The further away from America, the better," Rubio said at a cabinet meeting at the White House last Wednesday.