Iran Executes Three Over Protests, Citing Israel-US Ties
Does this reveal forced confessions silencing dissent or is it a fair response to armed sabotage?
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Above: Pro-government supporters at an anti-American and anti-Israeli rally in downtown Tehran, on Nov. 5. Image credit: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images
The Facts
- Iran executed three men on Sunday for carrying out operations on behalf of Israel and the U.S. during January's anti-government protests, the judiciary said. They were identified as Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh.
- The judiciary said the men made and used Molotov cocktails and homemade grenades, attacked public facilities and destroyed a power facility in Karaj. Their assets were confiscated after the Supreme Court upheld the sentences.
- Divband, also referred to as Dioband, was arrested Jan. 11 after investigators identified him as a suspect in attacks on public property and incitement to violence. Ten others detained in the case received prison terms of five to 10 years.
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The Spin
Anti-Iran narrative
Torture, mock executions and confessions squeezed out of prisoners denied a lawyer make these verdicts worthless. Branding angry protesters as foreign spies is a cheap shortcut to the gallows, and a new espionage law shouldn't double as a license to kill regime dissenters.
Pro-Iran narrative
Torching power substations, stabbing bystanders and lobbing homemade grenades is not peaceful protest. When wealthy ringleaders coordinate masked squads on behalf of hostile foreign powers, the harshest sentence on the books fits the crime. Any nation would answer armed sabotage with the full weight of the law.
