Iran issues 5 more death sentences, mulls blocking women’s bank accounts

Tehran, Dec 6 (EFE).- Iran has sentenced five more people to death for allegedly participating in the protests that have gripped the country for nearly three months, the country’s judiciary announced on Tuesday.

The convicted protesters are accused of fatally stabbing a member of the Basij — volunteers in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard— at the beginning of November during a protest in the city of Karaj, near Tehran, said judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi.

The punishments are to be carried out by hanging.

At a press conference, Setayeshi explained that another 11 people were given long prison sentences over the murder, adding to the more than 2,000 people who have been accused of various crimes during the demonstrations.

The number of people currently facing death sentences for their involvement in the protests is now 11.

In another blow to the social movement erupting in the country, the government is considering blocking the bank accounts of women who refuse to wear the hijab in public, parliamentarian Hossein Jalali said Tuesday.

The measure would be part of new rules governing dress codes in public, which are unlikely to be relaxed, as many had hoped, following the recent dissolution of the country’s so-called morality police.

The congressman said that they will inform women not covering their hair correctly “through text messages” when they are found guilty of breaking the law.

If the women fail to observe the rule after an initial warning, their bank accounts “may be blocked”, he explained.

Iran has seen violent protests since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini on September 16, after she was arrested by the morality police for not wearing her headscarf properly.

The protests have been met with a brutal crackdown by the government which has led to the death of 448 people including 60 children, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights. EFE

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