Five people sentenced to death in Iran over killing of Basij paramilitary member

Five people were sentenced to death over the killing of a Basij paramilitary force member during the widespread protests in Iran, the country’s judiciary said on Tuesday. The spokesperson for the judiciary – Massoud Setayeshi – also said that 11 people, including three children, were also sentenced to prison over the death of the soldier who was identified as Ruhollah Ajamian.

According to AFP, the prosecutors in the case told the court that Ajamian was killed by a group of people who were paying tribute to a protester Hadis Najafi. Najafi was killed in the protests following the death of Mahsa Amini and during the ceremonies making 40 days of her death, the mourners attacked members of the paramilitary forces and Ajamian ended up losing his life.

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While the trial started with 11 people on the stands, four more were added by the police under the accusation of “corruption on earth”. Mizan Online website reported that all 15 defendants were charged in relation to the crimes and were handed out various degrees of punishments.

The protests in Iran were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who was found dead after she was detained by the Iranian morality police for flouting the country’s hijab laws. The post-mortem report revealed trauma injuries to both her head and body pointing towards police torture.

Since the start of the protests, Iranian forces believe that 300 people have been killed including more than 30 members of the security forces. Over 5000 people have also been arrested.