Eleven people, including a woman, have been charged over the lynching murder of a paramilitary during the wave of protests that have been rocking Iran since the death in custody of young Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in September for allegedly wearing the Islamic headscarf incorrectly.
The incident, one of the most publicized of this period, occurred on November 3 in Karaj, west of Tehran. According to the authorities’ account reported Saturday by the Iranian judicial agency Mizan, the paramilitary, identified as Sayed Ruhollah Ajamian, was «unarmed and clearing a road when a mob attacked him with knives and stones».
«Finally, in an act comparable to the behavior of the (jihadist organization) Islamic State, they dragged his naked and dying body on the asphalt of the street, among the cars,» concludes the official account of the murder of Ajamian, a member of the Basij militias, dependent on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of the Iranian Army.
Among the charges brought against these suspects, one stands out above all others, that of «corruption of the land», punishable in Iran with the death penalty.
The incidents took place near the Behesht Sakineh cemetery, on a day of mourning following the death of Hadis Najafi, a 22-year-old demonstrator killed during a protest on September 21 in this town of Karaj, 30 kilometers west of the country’s capital.
The repression of the protests, which include calls for the fall of the Iranian regime, have so far resulted in the death of more than 300 people, according to the latest figures from the non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights (IHR), although other NGOs put the total number of dead at more than 400.
