After several months of physical and psychological torture, the clerical regime hanged Saleh Mirhashmi, Majid Kazemi, and Saeed Yaqoubi. They were arrested during the nationwide uprising, which erupted in September following the state murder of Mahsa Amini in police custody in Tehran. 

 

The three victims were charged with Moharebeh, or “Waging war on God,” based on confessions obtained under torture. While the regime made much fanfare and, in sham trials, accused the trio of murdering several security forces, they were not charged with any degree of murder.  

Their death sentences were met with both a domestic and international outcry. The Iranian regime, mainly the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, had planned to execute these protesters almost two weeks ago, in line with the killing spree he has started in the past two months, sending nearly 120 prisoners to the gallows since April 21.  

In the past few days, people in several cities across the country, mainly in Isfahan, held protests demanding the release of Majid, Saleh, and Saeed. International organizations and several Western governments condemned the death sentence of the arrested protesters and urged the regime to halt their execution. 

 

 

Absent a meaningful international reaction, the religious fascism, desperate to quell the restive society through executions and intimidation, hanged Majid, Saleh, and Saeed on May 19 at dawn. A few hours later, protests erupted in a dozen cities.  

In Tehran, people expressed their outrage and held protests or chanted slogans from their houses. In several districts of Tehran, including Ekbatan, Tehransar, Shahrziba, Negin Gharb, Tehranpars, Saadat Abad, and Apadana, citizens chanted slogans denouncing Khamenei. They chanted slogans such as: “Death to Khamenei, the killer,” “Death to the republic of execution,” and “Death to Khamenei, damned be Khomeini.”  

In Karaj, west of Tehran, locals marched and chanted anti-regime slogans. In Isfahan, where the uprising arrestees were executed, citizens held nightly protests, chanting slogans against Khamenei.  These reactions, with people holding Khamenei mainly responsible for the killings, indicate the regime’s failure to control the wave of dissent across Iran.

Like his predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini, who ordered the mass executions of dissidents in the summer of 1988 to guarantee the future of his regime, Khamenei has started a wave of executions since late April in a bid to control Iran’s society somehow.  

 

 

When different tactics, such as promoting pseudo alternatives or bolding false solutions of “civil disobedience,” failed, the recent executions were Khamenei’s last-ditch effort.  

The recent executions epitomize Khamenei’s frantic endeavors to stave off the impending collapse of his regime as the protests have metamorphosed into an unyielding democratic revolution. However, society’s resolute response has thwarted his nefarious scheme. 

Despite the resounding global condemnation, the recent executions persist unabated under Khamenei’s brutal regime. Words of support, eloquent resolutions, or verbal denouncements are insufficient to halt his relentless slaughter. Tyrants of his ilk comprehend only the language of coercion.

 

 

Urging the regime to stop executions is like asking an arsonist to put out the fire. The moment has arrived for Western democracies to tangibly bolster the Iranian people’s revolution by severing all ties with Tehran, closing its embassies, expelling its operatives, and acknowledging the inherent right of the Iranian populace to self-defense. These measures undeniably undermine Khamenei’s oppressive machinery, rendering it feeble in the face of resistance. 

 

 

 

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MEK Iran (follow us on Twitter and Facebook), Maryam Rajavi’s on her site, Twitter & Facebook, NCRI  (Twitter & Facebook), and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTu