At least 100 Iranians are at risk of death penalty: NGO

Copenhagen, Dec 28 (EFE).- At least 100 Iranians are at risk of receiving death sentences or being executed for participating in nationwide anti-regime protests, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) has said.

In a report issued Tuesday, IHRNGO pointed out the figure is likely to be much higher as “most families are under pressure to stay quiet.”

Defendants have not had access to lawyers or a fair trial and were subjected to torture to extract coerced confessions, according to the NGO.

IHRNGO estimates that at least 476 protesters, including 34 women and 64 children, have been killed during the protests that have gripped the country since September, claiming it has “received a high volume of reports of deaths which it continues to investigate with security considerations and internet disruptions.”

“Despite more than 100 days passing since the start of the nationwide protests, hundreds being killed, thousands arrested and protesters being executed, the people’s uprising for real change and achieving fundamental rights continues,” IHRNGO director Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam said.

“More widespread participation inside and outside the country and the international community supporting this uprising, can help lower the cost,” he added.

The massive protests were triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody on September 16. She was arrested by the morality police for allegedly not wearing her headscarf correctly.

Established in 2005 and registered in Oslo in 2009, IHRNGO says it is made up of people inside and outside of Iran, with members in the United States, Canada, Japan and several European countries.EFE

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