While the world's attention has been focused on diplomatic efforts to end the Iran war, the Iranian regime -- whatever is left of it, that is -- has been busy doing what it does best: brutalising its own people.

At the same time that the Trump administration has been repeatedly offering Tehran the possibility of a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, the Islamic hardliners still running the country are seeking to reassert their stranglehold over the Iranian people by embarking on a fresh round of executions.

Despite giving US President Donald Trump assurances in January that Tehran would not carry out the planned executions of around 800 protesters detained during the wave of anti-government protests that erupted at the start of the year, the Islamic regime has now resumed its barbaricexecution programme, with most of the accused first being subjected to torture before being led to the gallows.

At least 14 Iranians are reported to have been executed since Trump launched Operation Epic Fury at the end of February, including an 18-year-old protester who took part in the anti-government protests in January, which resulted in the deaths of anestimated30,000 Iranian civilians.

In one of the more controversial demonstrations of the regime's determination to crush anti-government activity, Iran executed Kouroush Keyvani, a dual Iranian-Swedish national, on charges of spying for Israel.

The execution took place despite official protests from the Swedish government, which claimed that Keyvani, who had been arrested during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel last year for allegedly photographing sensitive areas, had not received a fair trial and proper legal representation.

"It is clear to us,"saidSweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard, "that the legal process that led to the Swedish citizen being executed has not been fair."

Other Iranians executed during the past monthincludeseveral people who were hanged on charges of rebellion over membership in the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), a banned opposition group, as well as the country's 19-year-oldwrestling champion, Saleh Mohammadi, with two others. The regime has announced that it will also carry out this year's first execution of afemale demonstrator, Bita Hammati, accused of having thrown concrete blocks at the Basij.

Additionally, the deliberate targeting of opposition groups such as the MEK, which is said to have close ties with the West, is being seen as an attempt by the regime to persuade ordinary Iranians that the country is facing a Western-inspired plot to effect regime change in Iran.

Other executions have involved three young men accused of involvement in mass protests in January, the first hangings Iran carried out directly related to the nationwide demonstrations that ended in a bloody clampdown. Among those executed was 18-year-old Amirhossein Hatami, detained during the ⁠nationwide unrest in January.

Source: Gatestone Institute :: Articles