An Iranian court has handed down the first death sentence linked to recent protests, convicting the unnamed person of “enmity against God” and “spreading corruption on Earth”, state media reported.
It comes after weeks of nationwide protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in September.
Iran’s Revolutionary Court has sentenced a protester who allegedly set fire to a government building, state media reported.
They were convicted on charges of “disturbance of public order and peace, community and conspiracy to commit a crime against national security, war and corruption on Earth, war through arson and willful destruction,” according to the state IRNA news agency on Sunday.
Five others who took part in the protests were sentenced to between five and ten years in prison, convicted of “collaborating to commit a crime against national security and disturbing public peace and order”.
IRNA added that these decisions are preliminary and can be appealed. The news agency did not name the protester who was sentenced to death or provide details on when and where they committed the alleged crime.
Iran has been rocked by anti-regime protests since September, in the biggest demonstration of dissent in years, sparked by anger over the death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been detained by morality police for allegedly not dressing properly her hijab.
Iranian authorities have since launched a brutal crackdown on the protesters, having charged at least 1,000 people in Tehran province for their alleged involvement.
Security forces have killed at least 326 people since the protests began two months ago, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO.
That number includes 43 children and 25 women, the group said in an update on its death toll on Saturday, saying the number published represented an “absolute minimum”.
CNN cannot independently verify the number, as non-state media, the internet and protest movements in Iran have been suppressed. The death toll varies according to opposition groups, international rights organizations and journalists covering the ongoing protests.
Despite the threat of arrests – and tougher punishments for those involved – Iranian celebrities and athletes have come forward to support anti-government protests in recent weeks.
On Friday, United Nations experts urged Iranian authorities to “stop charging people with charges punishable by death for participating or allegedly participating in peaceful protests” and “stop using the death penalty as a tool to quell protests.”
