She said: “Reluctantly forced to refrain from executing eight other detained protesters subsequent to the millions-strong social media campaign calling for the halt in executions, the ruling religious fascism carried out this execution in retaliation and in order to terrorize the public and thwart the outbreak of an uprising.”

Rajavi also said that now, more than ever, it is imperative for an international fact-finding mission to be sent to Iran to visit prisons and prisoners.

Mostafa Salehi, 30, was hanged in Dastgerd prison in Isfahan on the morning of Wednesday, August 5, for “leading the Kahrizsang riots in Najafabad”. He was sentenced to death after a sham trial, following his arrest in Kahrizsang, Isfahan, during the December 2017-January 2018 uprising

The Iranian state-run media reported the execution yesterday and tried to justify the murder of political prisoners by claiming, wrongly, that the protesters shot at passersby or unarmed forces or that they destroyed public buildings.

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Of course, it is well known that the Iranian regime will make up any excuse to arrest dissidents and will extract confessions under torture that will be broadcast on national TV. As you can understand, these confessions are false because people will admit to anything under torture.

This execution carried out in retaliation for not being allowed to execute eight other protesters last month because of an international social media campaign using the hashtag #donotexecute, or #اعدام نکنید proves that the Iranian regime has no interest in abiding by the norms and values of the international community.

The other eight protesters – five from the December 2017-January 2018 protests and three from the November 2019 uprising – have been spared the noose for now, but the regime will likely impose the sentence as soon as the world stops paying attention.

The November protesters – Amir Hossein Moradi, Saied Tamjidi, and Mohammad Rajabi – were sentenced to death on July 10 after a trial in January that Amnesty International called “grossly unfair”. At least one of them –Moradi- was tortured in Evin Prison.

On July 31, the families of the December protesters gathered outside the Isfahan Judiciary building because they feared their loved ones were about to be executed in secret after all contact suddenly stopped.