Christoph Soeder | Picture Alliance | Getty Images As Iran enters its eighth week of public unrest following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, the country’s Revolutionary Court handed down its first known death sentence on Sunday for his involvement in anti-regime protests. According to the Judiciary website Mizan Online, the unidentified accused set fire to a government building and was convicted on charges of “disturbing public order and comfort, community and conspiracy to commit a crime against national security”. Prison sentences ranging from five to 10 years were handed down to five other people, according to the ruling, on charges of national security and public order violations. The decisions are subject to appeal and further details of the case will not be released until the final verdict. At least 326 people have been killed in one of the biggest ongoing challenges to Iran’s regime since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to the Norway-based non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights. Iranian protesters take to the streets of the capital Tehran during a protest against Mahsa Amini on September 21, days after her death by police. Afp | Getty Images The use of the death penalty is a new tool in the government’s toolbox to quell anti-government protests. An estimated 14,000 people have been arrested and detained since the protests began nearly two months ago, according to the United Nations. About 1,000 people in Tehran were charged for their alleged involvement in the riots. Before Sunday, people taking part in the protests were charged with crimes that carry the death penalty, namely “waging war against God” and “corrupting the earth”. “We urge the Iranian authorities to stop using the death penalty as a tool to quell protests,” the UN said in a statement, reiterating the organization’s call for the protesters to be freed. Ramin Forouzandeh, an Iranian doctoral candidate based in Toronto, told CNBC that while he believes lawmakers have the “desire” to hang every protester, they fear that doing so will spark more serious waves of protests. “I think they are testing their limits. I can say with confidence that if the protests calm down, they will start hanging prisoners and redouble the repression.”
