Courts in Iran handed over jailed terms to 400 people for up to 10 years on charges related to the protests. Judiciary chief for Tehran province Ali Alghasi-Mehr informed that the judges had handed down the rulings to ‘rioters’, a term officials use for all demonstrators who defy its hardline theocratic rule, according to the Guardian.
Alghasi-Mehr cited the judiciary’s Mizan Online website saying that 160 people were sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison while 80 people were given up to two to five years and 160 people to up to two years.
Tehran is one of 31 provinces in the country, which means that the total number of jail sentences may go up several times higher. UN human rights experts stated that more than 14,000 people are held across the country since the protest began in mid-September. Iranian authorities executed two men earlier for their alleged role in the months-long protests. Nine more people are sitting on death row, according to Anadolu Agency.
Iran on Monday carried out the execution of a second prisoner detained and convicted amid nationwide protests opposing the country’s theocracy. Iran claimed the footage aired on state television showed him stabbing two guards to death and running away, news agency AFP reported.
It is the second execution after Mohsen Shekari last week was hanged to death over anti-government protests that gripped the country after the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody for allegedly violating the country's strict female dress code.
Iran has been facing nationwide protests after a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, died in police custody for not wearing her headscarf properly.
People ate protesting to express their rage over decades of oppression, misogyny in the name of religion, and international isolation. The UN office of the high commissioner for human rights has said more than 300 people have been killed in the crackdown, including at least 40 children.