Iran’s barbaric regime is set to execute its first female protester over recent protests, one of an estimated 1,600 sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic in the past year.
Bita Hemmati is the first woman due to be hanged in relation to the demonstrations that broke out in January across the country and were viciously stamped out by government forces.
The regime accused her of numerous charges, including using explosives and weapons, throwing objects such as concrete blocks, participating in protest gatherings, and disrupting national security, according to a Tuesday press release from the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
Her husband, Mohammadreza Majid Asl, 34, as well as two other men, Behrouz and Kourosh Zamaninezhad, who lived in the couple’s apartment building, were also sentenced to death following a hasty trial and their property confiscated.
A fifth defendant, Hemmati’s relative Amir Hemmati, was sentenced to almost six years in prison for “assembly and collusion against national security” as well as “propaganda against the regime.”
They were accused by Iran’s government of “operational action for the hostile government of the United States and hostile groups,” according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
The group was all arrested in Tehran, which saw the largest national protests against the Iranian regime.
No execution date has yet been given.
“The Iranian Resistance once again calls on the United Nations, relevant international bodies, and human rights defenders to take immediate action to save the lives of prisoners sentenced to death, especially political prisoners and those detained during the uprising,” the NCRI said in a statement.
The protests in Iran were triggered by a series of local strikes by shopkeepers and market merchants in Tehran in late December.
Within two days, it had spread across the capital, and by January, students and other groups had joined a nationwide show of opposition.
Thousands of protesters were reportedly killed or injured, with tens of thousands arrested or detained as part of the government crackdown.
