TEHRAN: Courts in Tehran have sentenced 400 people to jail terms of up to 10 years over their involvement in protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death, Iran’s judiciary said Tuesday.
Iran has been gripped by nearly three months of protests — which officials describe as “riots” — since the death of Amini after her arrest for an alleged breach of the country’s dress code for women.
“In hearings on cases of rioters in Tehran province, 160 people were sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison, 80 people to two to five years and 160 people of up to two years,” Tehran’s judiciary chief Ali Alghasi-Mehr said, quoted by the judiciary’s Mizan Online website.
The Islamic republic has drawn widespread international condemnation after executing two men in the past week in connection with the unrest.
Majidreza Rahnavard and Mohsen Shekari, both 23, were hanged on Monday and Thursday respectively on the charges of “moharebeh” — or “enmity against God” under Iran’s Islamic sharia law.
Prior to the two executions, Iran’s judiciary said it had issued death sentences to 11 people over the protests, but campaigners say around a dozen others face charges that could see them also receive the death penalty.
Since September 16 when the protests broke out, thousands of people have been arrested. Iran’s top security body said on December 3 that more than 200 people had been killed in the unrest.
VOA
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