Did Iran sentence 15,000 anti-hijab protesters to death? The truth revealed

Did Iran sentence 15,000 people to death for participating in anti-government street protests? The claim has been found to be incorrect.

Several media reports had recently shared the claim which was also amplified by Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and some high-profile celebrities like Hollywood actors Viola Davis and Sophie Turner. In the now-deleted tweet, the prime minister had written on 15 November, “Canada denounces the Iranian regime’s barbaric decision to impose the death penalty on nearly 15,000 protesters.”

These protesters in question have been hitting the streets of Iran since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, who was detained in September for wearing tight trousers and a loose headscarf (hijab) by Iran’s morality police in Tehran. Later, she fell into a coma and died in police custody.

What is the reality behind the misleading claim? How did Justin Trudeau and others fall for it? We take a closer look.

How did the 15,000 figure emerge?

Citing overseas-based human rights and media organisations, Al Jazeera notes that 15,000 people are believed to have been arrested during the anti-regime protests.

The reports of the death sentence of thousands of protesters apparently emanate from a November 6 letter signed by 227 of Iran’s 290 members of parliament (MPs) that asked the judiciary to “show no leniency” to protesters.

The letter said people engaging in ‘moharebeh’ (waging war against God) should be handled “decisively” with such a reply that would “teach an example”, as per Al Jazeera.

Although the document did not lay down any method of punishment, it did hint at the Islamic concept of ‘qisas’ (retaliation in kind), reports CNN.

According to Al Jazeera, the Iranian judiciary can pronounce the death sentence if someone is indicted for moharebeh.

The Iranian lawmakers had faced flak over the letter and some had even clarified that they did not call for the execution of all protesters.

“Public sham trials as well as the letter sent by MPs are part of the system’s tactic to portray their narrative of what is happening in Iran and intimidate protestors,” Tara Sepehri Far, senior researcher in the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch, told CNN.

Some days later, a letter went viral that allegedly had the names of 227 MPs who called on the judiciary to consider the arrested demonstrators as people engaging in moharebeh.

However, Al Jazeera has reported that the letter “appears to be fake as the list of lawmakers is old and includes former members of parliament”.

How many have been sentenced to death?

Out of the around 15,000 arrested, 2,000 have been officially charged and five were given the death penalty, as per BBC.

A court in Iran announced the first death sentence – in connection with the widespread protests – to a person charged with “setting fire to a government centre, disturbing public order and collusion for committing crimes against national security”, reports Al Jazeera.

The unnamed person was also convicted for “enmity against God”.

In its 16 November report, BBC said that four more people have been accorded the death penalty for “enmity against God”.

The report, citing Mizan news agency, stated that one of the “rioters” had allegedly hit and killed a police officer with his car.

One of the protesters allegedly carried a knife and a gun, one blocked a street and caused “terror”, while the fourth was found guilty of a knife attack, Mizan reported.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights has warned that at least 20 protesters are facing charges punishable by death in Iran currently, BBC reported.

According to Al Jazeera, over 1,000 charges have been notified against “rioters” in Tehran and many more in other regions of the country, judiciary officials have divulged.

ALSO READ: Hijab must in Iran, burqa banned in France: Countries that dictate what women should wear

How the Canadian PM and others fell for false claims

Last Tuesday, Newsweek had put out a story claiming Iranian parliament had “voted overwhelmingly in favour of the death penalty for protesters”, as per BBC.

The claim was further boosted by some users on Twitter and Instagram. However, Newsweek had later corrected its story. It also ran a headline “Iran protesters refuse to back down as 15,000 face execution,” which was later rectified.

Before Trudeau took down the tweet, it was already retweeted more than 6,000 times.

A Canadian government spokesperson told CNN that the tweet was removed as it “was informed by initial reporting that was incomplete and lacked necessary context.”

From where the claims came from, Canada’s Prime Minister’s office told BBC, “It was based on reporting of serious concerns raised by international human rights advocates warning of possible future sentences, including the death penalty, imposed on thousands of Iranian protesters who have already been detained by the regime.”

With Trudeau falling for the false claims, experts on human rights in Iran have expressed concern that this would bolster the Iranian regime’s narrative on protests being a “foreign plot” to destabilise the government.

“We know that the Iranian government would love to find one case of a mistaken statement and use that to discredit all information about the violence they’re committing,” Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, was quoted as saying by CBC News.

Protests in Iran

The two-month-old protests against the compulsory hijab continue to rage on the streets of Iran, despite the violent crackdown by the government.

Citing Iran Human Rights BBC puts the death toll at 326, including 43 children and 25 women.

“Executions still continue to be a key part of the regime’s attempts to silence and control Iran’s people – in the past decade the Islamic Republic has consistently ranked as the top executioner per capita in the world,” Gissou Nia, human rights expert at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, told CNN.

According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 344 have died, including 52 children, while as many as 15,820 protesters have been detained.

The Iranian authorities have claimed over 40 members of the security forces have died in the protest, reports Al Jazeera. They have, however, refused to give an official count of arrested, injured, or killed protesters.

Rights groups have also alerted of “hasty executions” and lengthy prison sentences by the Iranian authority, BBC notes.

With inputs from agencies

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