Iran carries out second protest-related execution

Iranian authorities publicly hanged Majidreza Rahnavard on Monday from a construction crane in the city of Mashhad. A court convicted him of killing two volunteer members of the security forces. State media aired a video clip of Rahnavard in court saying that he hated the security forces for hurting and killing protesters.

Was he the assailant? Iran’s Mizan news agency said Mashhad’s Revolutionary Court convicted Rahnavard. The tribunals have received international criticism for stacking the deck against defendants. The courts have been accused of not allowing those on trial to pick their own lawyers or even see the evidence against them. The court also convicted Rahnavard of “moharebeh,” a Farsi word meaning “waging war against God.”

Dig deeper: Read A.S. Ibrahim’s column in WORLD Opinions about whether the Iranian regime is collapsing.