Iran Executes Two More Men in Connection with Protests

FILE PHOTO:  A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by Iran's "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by Iran's "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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Iran Executes Two More Men in Connection with Protests

FILE PHOTO:  A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by Iran's "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by Iran's "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran executed two men on Saturday for killing a paramilitary force member during unprecedented protests sparked by the death in custody of a young woman.

The latest hangings double the number of executions to four over the protests, which escalated into calls for an end to Iran's clerical regime, AFP said.

Two men were put to death in December, sparking global outrage and new Western sanctions against Iran.

Judicial news agency Mizan Online on Saturday reported "Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, the main perpetrators of the crime that led to the martyrdom of Ruhollah Ajamian, were hanged this morning."

The court of first instance had sentenced the two men to death in early December, it said.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court upheld the sentence of capital punishment, accusing them of killing Ajamian on November 3.

The victim belonged to the Basij militia -- linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps -- who died in Karaj, west of Tehran.

Prosecutors previously said the 27-year-old was stripped naked and killed by a group of mourners who had been paying tribute to a slain protester, Hadis Najafi.

The hangings come in defiance of a campaign by international rights groups for the lives of the two men to be spared.

Amnesty International had decried the "fast-tracked unfair group trial" of the two men which it said bore no "resemblance to a meaningful judicial proceeding".

Mohammad Mehdi Karami's father had told Iranian media that a family lawyer had not been able to access his son's case file.

Karami was 22, according to Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR). Hosseini's age was not immediately clear.

Authorities have arrested thousands of people in the wave of demonstrations that began with the September death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22.

The Iranian Kurdish woman had been arrested by morality police for allegedly breaching the regime's strict dress code for women.

The courts have sentenced 14 people to death over the demonstrations, according to an AFP count based on official information.

- Fears for others -
Four have now been executed, two others have had their sentences confirmed by the Supreme Court, six are awaiting new trials and two others can appeal.

Dozens of other protesters face charges punishable by death, IHR said in late December.

The latest executions were the first linked to the protests in almost a month.

On December 12 Majidreza Rahnavard, 23, was hanged publicly from a crane. He had been sentenced to death by a court in the city of Mashhad for killing two members of the security forces with a knife, and wounding four other people, Mizan reported.

Rahnavard's execution came despite the widespread international anger sparked by the first announced execution four days earlier.

Mohsen Shekari, also 23, was executed on charges of wounding a member of the security forces.

In late December the US Treasury Department sanctioned Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, saying he was responsible for human rights abuses including torture and death-penalty trials of protesters.

The Treasury said the case of Shekari bore "little resemblance to a meaningful trial".

On December 12 new European Union sanctions targeted Iranian officials including hardline cleric Seyed Ahmad Khatami. He was included on the list for inciting violence against protesters, including demanding the death penalty. 



Trump’s New York Rally Attacks Harris, Draws Criticism

Former US First Lady Melania Trump applauds her husband former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after he spoke at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, October 27, 2024. (AFP)
Former US First Lady Melania Trump applauds her husband former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after he spoke at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, October 27, 2024. (AFP)
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Trump’s New York Rally Attacks Harris, Draws Criticism

Former US First Lady Melania Trump applauds her husband former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after he spoke at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, October 27, 2024. (AFP)
Former US First Lady Melania Trump applauds her husband former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after he spoke at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, October 27, 2024. (AFP)

Republican Donald Trump led a headline-grabbing New York rally on Sunday with nonstop attacks on Kamala Harris, but Democrats sought to capitalize on crude insults from some of his allies' opening speeches.

Trump took to the stage at the iconic 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden arena to deliver a closing message in the exceedingly tight race for the White House that reaches its apogee on November 5.

"You've destroyed our country. We're not going to take it anymore, Kamala," the 78-year-old told roaring supporters wearing trademark red "Make America Great Again" hats.

Several speakers drew cheers with their own barbs against Harris as well as Puerto Rico and Latinos at the rally in the Democratic stronghold city.

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe took aim at birthrates among Latinos and called the Caribbean US territory Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage".

- 'Not a punchline' -

Harris, 60, seized on the attacks as she competes with the ex-president to win over Puerto Rican communities in the tight battleground states expected to decide the election.

"Puerto Ricans deserve a president who sees and invests in (their) strength," Harris said in a clip published on social media alongside Hinchcliffe's comments.

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, noted the state is home to almost half a million Puerto Ricans and nearly three quarters are able to vote.

Ricky Martin, the Puerto Rican superstar with 18.6 million followers on Instagram, quickly shared a video of Harris's appeal to Puerto Rican voters, along with a clip of Hinchcliffe's remarks.

"This is what they think of us," Martin wrote in Spanish. "Vote for @kamalaharris."

Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny also showed support for the vice president by sharing one of her videos to his 45.6 million followers on Instagram.

Trump's rally at "The World's Most Famous Arena" included a surprise appearance by his wife Melania and backers such as billionaire Elon Musk, who has personally hit the campaign trail for the ex-president.

However, the venue also hosted a far-right, pro-Hitler rally in 1939, complete with eagles, Nazi insignia and salutes -- an association that has generated darker headlines.

Professional wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, who also spoke at the Republican convention in July, rejected criticisms of the rally: "I don't see any Nazis in here."

- Harris 'boots on ground' -

Other speeches also drew concern and criticism, including from Stephen Miller, one of Trump's most hard-right advisors.

"America is for Americans and Americans only," he shouted into the microphone, after pledging a crackdown on cartels and "criminal migrants".

While former Fox News host Tucker Carlson took a mocking shot at Harris's background, calling her "a Samoan Malaysian low I.Q. former California prosecutor".

Harris, meanwhile, charged through a packed day of campaigning in must-win Pennsylvania's largest city, including stops at a Black church, a barbershop and a Puerto Rican restaurant.

With barely a week to go, she was leaving nothing to chance in Philadelphia, where she must run up her vote tally to win the battleground state.

"We must not wake up the day after the election and have any regrets," she told a rally in Philadelphia.

Sunday's visit was the vice president's 14th trip to Pennsylvania since she jumped to the top of the ticket after President Joe Biden's shock withdrawal in July.

"This is the closest and the best opportunity we have to have a female in office who happens to be a Black female," Myrda Scott, from Philadelphia, told AFP at one of Harris's rallies in the city.

Harris rolled up to Philly Cuts barber shop in the largely Black neighborhood of West Philadelphia to meet residents, before ducking into the African-American-themed Hakim's Bookstore & Gift Shop.

"She's boots to the ground," 43-year-old African-American woman Myrda Scott, who runs a financial firm, told AFP as she awaited Harris at a youth basketball rec center rally.

On Tuesday, Harris will hold a major rally in Washington near the White House in the park where Trump fired up his supporters before they stormed the US Capitol to try to overturn the 2020 election result.