November 13, 2022
A revolutionary court in Tehran on Sunday sentenced to death a detainee for burning a government headquarters during the wave of protests against the death in custody of young Mahsa Amini on September 16, in the first sentence of this caliber since the start of the demonstrations.
The official IRNA news agency, which does not identify the convicted person, notes that the sentence was handed down in relation to charges of committing a crime against national security and "corruption in the land", the latter crime punishable by execution.
The verdict, however, can still be appealed.
The court also sentenced five people to between five and ten years' imprisonment for disturbing public order.
The verdict comes after the Iranian government denied a request by more than 200 members of parliament to impose stiffer punishments for the detained participants.
The NGO HRANA estimates that more than 15,000 people have been taken into police custody, temporarily or so far, since the outbreak of the protests, which have cost the lives of more than 330 people, including about 50 security personnel.
More than 2,000 people had already been charged, almost half of them in the capital, Tehran, since the demonstrations began, according to figures from the Iranian judiciary.
