Iran signals fast trials and executions for detained protesters after Trump warning
As the death toll surpasses 2,500, Iran’s judiciary chief calls for fast action for suspects arrested over protests
The comments from Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei come as activists had warned hangings of those detained could come soon. Already, a bloody security force crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,571, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Trump repeatedly has warned that the United States may take military action over the killing of peaceful protesters, just months after it bombed Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day war launched by Israel against the Islamic Republic in June.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, Iran held a mass funeral of 300 security force members killed in the demonstrations. Tens of thousands of mourners attended, holding Iranian flags and photos of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The caskets, covered in Iranian flags, stood stacked at least three high. Red and white roses and framed photographs of people who were killed covered them.
People elsewhere remained fearful in the streets. Plain clothes security forces still milled around some neighbourhoods, though anti-riot police and members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force appeared to have been sent back to their barracks.
“We are very frightened because of these sounds [of gunfire] and protests,” said one mother of two children shopping for fruits and vegetables on Wednesday, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.