Iran Executes 2 Prisoners in Sanandaj Central Prison

Protesters carrying a photo of Mahsa Amini during a march against the regime in Iran (Reuters)
Protesters carrying a photo of Mahsa Amini during a march against the regime in Iran (Reuters)
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Iran Executes 2 Prisoners in Sanandaj Central Prison

Protesters carrying a photo of Mahsa Amini during a march against the regime in Iran (Reuters)
Protesters carrying a photo of Mahsa Amini during a march against the regime in Iran (Reuters)

Two prisoners were executed at Sanandaj Central Prison on a charge of "intentional murder," according to Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.

Iran recorded a significant increase in death sentences and executions of demonstrators.

Widespread protests spread in Iran after the death of Mahsa Aymani, who was arrested by the morality police in Tehran in September 2022.

On Friday, the Iranian Human Rights Organization said that authorities issued 18 death sentences, including six women, and will be carried out in the coming days.

It announced that prison authorities informed the 18 prisoners, including two women in the Dastgerd prison in Isfahan and four others in the Dolat Abad women's prison.

Among the inmates was Samira Abbasi, a child bride who was sentenced to death for the premeditated murder of her husband.

Iran International reported that Iran is among the countries that have the highest number of executions in the world every year.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned Friday of the "dramatic escalation" of executions in Iran in recent weeks, saying it is a "serious violation of the right to life and should bring international condemnation."

The Beirut branch of the human rights organization announced that Iran witnessed during the past two weeks at least 60 executions, including an Iranian-Swedish national, on alleged terror-related charges.

Many of them were executed after unfair trials or for charges such as drug offenses and two executions for "blasphemy," that under international law should never result in the death penalty.

The director of the Iran Human Rights Organization, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, warned of the unprecedented wave of executions in Iran, especially among women.

Amiry-Moghaddam called on the international community to "stop the killing machine," warning that hundreds of people will be victims of this regime in the coming months.

An informed source told the organization that two men and two women were informed of the date of their execution in Dastgerd Prison. They were sentenced to retribution on charges of premeditated murder.

He added that 14 other prisoners were sentenced to death on drug-related charges.



Trump Administration to Cancel Student Visas of Pro-Palestinian Protesters

The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses. (AFP)
The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses. (AFP)
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Trump Administration to Cancel Student Visas of Pro-Palestinian Protesters

The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses. (AFP)
The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday to combat antisemitism and pledge to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests, a White House official said.

A fact sheet on the order promises "immediate action" by the Justice Department to prosecute "terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews" and marshal all federal resources to combat what it called "the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets" since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

"To all the resident aliens who joined in the protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you," Trump said in the fact sheet.

"I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before."

The Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to several months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses, with civil rights groups documenting rising antisemitic, anti-Arab and Islamophobic incidents.

The order will require agency and department leaders to provide the White House with recommendations within 60 days on all criminal and civil authorities that could be used to fight antisemitism, and would demand "the removal of resident aliens who violate our laws."

The fact sheet said protesters engaged in pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, blocked Jewish students from attending classes and assaulted worshippers at synagogues, as well as vandalizing US monuments and statues.

Many pro-Palestinian protesters denied supporting Hamas or engaging in antisemitic acts, and said they were demonstrating against Israel's military assault on Gaza, where health authorities say more than 47,000 people have been killed.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a large Muslim advocacy group, accused the Trump administration of an assault on "free speech and Palestinian humanity under the guise of combating antisemitism," and described Wednesday's order as "dishonest, overbroad and unenforceable."

During his 2024 election campaign, Trump promised to deport those he called "pro-Hamas" students in the United States on visas.

On his first day in office, he signed an executive order that rights groups say lays the groundwork for the reinstatement of a ban on travelers from predominantly Muslim or Arab countries, and offers wider authorities to use ideological exclusion to deny visa requests and remove individuals already in the country.