Iran goes ahead with second execution disregarding global outcry

Tehran: In defiance of a worldwide uproar over its use of capital punishment against anyone associated with the movement, Iran executed a second man on Monday in connection with protests that have rocked the regime for months.

While going forward with a fresh round of sanctions aimed at increasing pressure on Tehran, EU foreign ministers denounced Iran for its use of drone deliveries to Russia and its crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.

The EU "will take any action we can to support young women and peaceful demonstrators," Josep Borrell, the bloc's foreign policy chief, said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said: "With this sanctions package, we are targeting, in particular, those who are responsible for the executions, the violence against innocent people …these are especially the Revolutionary Guards."

Majidreza Rahnavard was publicly hanged on Monday, demonstrating how quickly the Iranian government is now carrying out death penalties given to people captured during protests it wants to put an end to.

According to the judiciary's Mizan Online news agency, Rahnavard, 23, was found guilty of using a knife to kill two members of the security forces and injure four others and was given the death penalty by a court in Mashhad, Arab News reported.

Rights organisations said that he was executed barely over three weeks after his arrest in November.

The hanging occurred just four days after Mohsen Shekari, a 23-year-old man, was executed on Thursday for wounding security personnel, marking the first time that a protester had received the capital penalty.

"These executions are a blatant attempt to intimidate people, not for committing crimes but just for taking their opinions to the streets, just for wanting to live in freedom," Germany's Baerbock said.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights said Rahnavard "was sentenced to death based on coerced confessions after a grossly unfair process and a show trial."

He added: "The public execution of a young protester, 23 days after his arrest, is another serious crime committed by the regime's leaders and a significant escalation of the level of violence against protesters."

The protests started after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian who had been detained by the morality police, died while in jail on September 16.