Region

PARIS — Iran on Saturday executed two men for killing a paramilitary force member during unprecedented protests sparked by the death in custody of a young woman.

The latest hangings double the number of executions to four over the nationwide protests, which escalated since mid-September into calls for an end to Iran's clerical regime.

Two men were put to death in December, sparking global outrage and new Western sanctions against Iran.

Judicial news agency Mizan Online reported "Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, the main perpetrators of the crime that led to the martyrdom of Ruhollah Ajamian, were hanged this morning."

Prosecutors said the 27-year-old militiaman was stripped naked and killed by a group of mourners who had been paying tribute to a slain protester, Hadis Najafi.

The executions come in defiance of a campaign by international rights groups for the lives of the two men to be spared. Karami's father had also begged the judiciary not to kill his son.

Amnesty International had decried the "fast-tracked unfair group trial" of the two men which it said bore no "resemblance to a meaningful judicial proceeding".

Authorities have arrested thousands of people in the wave of demonstrations that began with the September death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22.

The Iranian Kurdish woman had been arrested by morality police for allegedly breaching the regime's strict dress code for women.

Ajamian belonged to the Basij paramilitary force linked to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He died in Karaj, west of Tehran, on November 3 after being attacked with “knives, stones, fists, kicks” and dragged along a street, a judiciary spokesman said at the time.

The court of first instance had sentenced Karami and Hosseini to death in early December, Mizan said.

On Tuesday the Supreme Court upheld the sentence.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Oslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), said both men “were subjected to torture, sentenced after sham trials... without the minimum standards for due process.”

In a tweet, he said the latest executions “must have even stronger consequences” for Iran’s regime and specifically urged “new and stronger sanctions against individuals and entities”.

Karami’s parents had in December issued a video pleading with the judiciary to spare his life. 

“I respectfully ask the judiciary, I beg you please, I ask you... to remove the death penalty from my son’s case,” said Mashallah Karami, describing his son as a former national karate team member.

Karami’s father had told Iranian media that a family lawyer had not been able to access his son’s case file.

Mohamad Aghasi, whom the family wanted to handle the case, wrote on Twitter that Karami had not been allowed to have a final meeting with his family and had foregone food and water in protest.

IHR gave Karami’s age as 22. Hossein was 39, according to another Norway-based rights group, Hengaw.

They were among 14 people courts have sentenced to death over the unrest, according to an AFP count based on official information.

Four have now been executed, two others have had their sentences confirmed by the Supreme Court, six are awaiting new trials and two others can appeal.

Dozens of other protesters face charges punishable by death, IHR said in late December.

“We are mourning as a nation,” prominent US-based dissident Masih Alinejad said in a Twitter post. “Help us save others.”

‘Political cost’ 

British actor of Iranian origin Nazanin Boniadi, an ambassador for Amnesty International in the United Kingdom, said on Twitter that the “political cost of Iran executions” must increase. She called for more sanctions on “regime officials complicit in rights violations”, expulsion of Iranian diplomats and asset freezes.

The latest executions were the first linked to the protests in almost a month.

Iranian officials describe the protests as “riots” and accuse hostile foreign powers and opposition groups of stoking the unrest.

On December 12 Majidreza Rahnavard, 23, was hanged publicly from a crane. He had been sentenced to death for killing two members of the security forces with a knife, and wounding four other people, Mizan reported.

Rahnavard’s execution came despite the widespread international anger sparked by the first announced execution four days earlier.

Mohsen Shekari, also 23, was put to death on charges of wounding a member of the security forces.

In late December the US Treasury Department sanctioned Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, saying he was responsible for human rights abuses including torture and death-penalty trials of protesters.

The Treasury said the case of Shekari bore “little resemblance to a meaningful trial”.

On December 12 new European Union sanctions targeted Iranian officials including hardline cleric Seyed Ahmad Khatami. He was included on the list for inciting violence against protesters, including demanding the death penalty.

ALGIERS — Algerian poet Azzedine Mihoubi, a former minister and presidential candidate, has announced he is quitting politics, denying claims he will challenge President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s re-election bid in 2024.

“My name has been cited by several publications... alongside speculation that has no truth to it,” Mihoubi said in a message shared this week on social media.

“I wish to refute all these allegations,” wrote the 64-year-old, who said back in 2020 he would relieve himself of his duties in the Democratic National Rally, formerly one of Algeria’s ruling parties, to focus on writing.

“I publicly reiterate once more my withdrawal from all party political activity.”

A prolific journalist, writer and poet, Mihoubi was a member of parliament from 1997 to 2002.

He then held various posts in state institutions, including as head of public radio and the national library, before entering the government of longtime ruler Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was unseated in 2019.

After serving as communications minister from 2008 to 2010, he became culture minister in 2015 until March 31 that year, two days before Bouteflika resigned in the face of mass street protests.

Mihoubi stood for president in the election that followed Bouteflika’s ouster but lost to Tebboune.

In his statement, Mihoubi said he had dedicated himself “completely to writing and culture... contributing to the consolidation of the state, its identity, cultural pluralism and influence on the international level”.

BEIRUT — Lebanon has charged seven people for participating in an attack against United Nations peacekeepers that killed one Irish soldier in mid-December, a judicial official told AFP on Thursday.

Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others were injured on December 14 when their UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle was attacked near the village of Al-Aqbiya in the south of the Mediterranean country, a stronghold of the powerful Iran-backed Shiite group Hizbollah.

UNIFIL urged Beirut to ensure a swift investigation, the first violent death of one of its peacekeepers in nearly eight years.

Seven bullets pierced the UN vehicle, one hitting the driver in the head, judicial sources said.

Only one of the seven charged is in custody, Mohammad Ayyad, who was handed over to the army by Hezbollah last month.

On Wednesday, Ayyad was charged "with killing the Irish soldier and attempting to kill his three comrades by shooting them with a machine gun", the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they did not have permission to speak to the media.

The judge also charged six fugitives “for uttering threats with an illegal weapon, destroying the UNIFIL vehicle and intimidating its passengers”, the official added.

UNIFIL, made up of some 10,000 peacekeepers, has been deployed since 1978 to act as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel, which remain technically in a state of war. 

There have been incidents in the past between Hizbollah supporters and UNIFIL patrols, but they have rarely escalated.

The group has distanced itself from the latest attack, hastening to offer its condolences to the UNIFIL forces.

A security official has previously said that Hizbollah was cooperating with the investigation, which is led by Lebanon’s military intelligence service.

DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates on Thursday detailed its role in an international operation to arrest an Eritrean fugitive in Sudan accused of being “the world’s most wanted” people smuggler.

Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam has been accused of being a smuggling kingpin, running a camp in Libya where hundreds of East African migrants seeking passage to Europe were allegedly kidnapped, raped and extorted.

Habtemariam, subject of two Interpol red notices by Ethiopia and the Netherlands, was arrested on January 1 by Sudanese police in coordination with UAE authorities, UAE interior ministry official Saeed Abdullah Al Suwaidi told reporters.

The Eritrean, on Interpol’s radar since 2019, earned a reputation for “particularly cruel and violent treatment of migrants”, Interpol said.

“We have now shut down one of the most important trafficking routes into Europe, which illegally moved thousands of migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, through Libya and into Europe,” Suwaidi said in statement.

Habtemariam’s arrest followed a joint UAE and Interpol investigation, beginning last year, that tracked illicit financial transactions made by his brother, according to Suwaidi.

The Eritrean will now face trial in the UAE for money laundering, and authorities will review the possibility of his extradition after the case is closed in the UAE, Suwaidi added.

Habtemariam was arrested in Ethiopia in 2020 but escaped custody after one year, and was later sentenced in absentia to life in prison.

Suwaidi said his arrest was “just the beginning” of hunting down the rest of Habtemariam’s network, and the UAE is discussing with Interpol the possibility of launching another investigation into a major human trafficker.

Stephen Kavanagh, a director at Interpol, said Habtemariam was the “most wanted” criminal including in Ethiopia and the Netherlands.

The arrest “is a testament to the Interpol network, and what can be achieved when countries work together,” Kavanagh said, thanking Ethiopia, the Netherlands, the UAE and Sudan for playing a “crucial role”.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A Jerusalem bishop said Wednesday he was "dismayed" by the desecration of dozens of Christian graves on the edge of the Old City, as police probed the vandalism.

Stone graves lay in pieces with crosses toppled at the Protestant cemetery on Mount Zion, where Christians believe Jesus's Last Supper took place.

"We discovered that more than 30 tombstones and crosses were smashed to pieces," Hosam Naoum, an Anglican bishop, told journalists at the cemetery.

Church authorities said the damage was discovered on Tuesday, while security camera footage from January 1 showed two men or boys vandalising the site while wearing Jewish attire.

"These criminal acts were motivated by religious bigotry and hatred against Christians," the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem said in a statement.

Israeli forces said Tuesday they had launched an investigation into "the defacement of a large number of tombstones in the Protestant cemetery".

Standing before one of the damaged graves, Naoum said: "We are not only dismayed but we are very much saddened."

The bishop said the cemetery was established in the mid-19th century and is the final resting place of figures including clergy, scientists and politicians.

Among them were "people of great importance that have contributed to the history of Jerusalem and to the life of the people here," he said.

Israel's foreign ministry called for the perpetrators to be prosecuted, writing on Twitter that "this immoral act is an affront to religion".

Mount Zion lies outside the Old City walls and has drawn pilgrims for centuries. It is also revered by Jews, as the burial place of biblical King David.

In December 2021, church leaders warned that "Christians have become the target of frequent and sustained attacks by fringe radical groups" in Jerusalem and the wider Holy Land.

The statement criticised inaction by law enforcement and local officials, accusations deemed "baseless" by the Israeli foreign ministry.

ISTANBUL — Turkey on Tuesday hosted the leaders of Syria's opposition in a bid to assuage their concern following its overtures to Damascus.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted images of his meeting in Ankara with the opposition Syrian National Council chief Mahmut Al Maslat and other leaders.

The talks came less than a week after the defence chiefs of Turkey and Syria held landmarks negotiations in Moscow, the first such meeting since 2011.

"We reiterated our support to the Syrian opposition and people in accordance with UNSC Resolution 2254," Cavusoglu said in reference to a 2015 United Nations call for a ceasefire and political settlement in Syria.

Ankara became a sworn enemy of Damascus when it began backing rebel efforts to topple President Bashar Assad at the start of the Syrian civil war 12 years ago.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has opened up to the idea of meeting the Syrian leader.

Erdogan has suggested that the talks between the defence chiefs be followed up by a meeting between the foreign ministers that could set up a potential presidential summit.

Cavusoglu said he expects to meet his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad in Moscow in the second half of January.

But Assad’s government appears cool to Erdogan’s outreach efforts.

‘Extended hand’ 

Some analysts believe that Assad will not agree to meet Erdogan before Turkey holds a general election, now scheduled for no later than June.

Erdogan’s foreign policy adviser Ibrahim Kalin said it was “too early to say right now” when the two presidents might meet.

“How all of this unfolds depends on the regime’s attitude,” Kalin told NTV television.

“Turkey has extended its hand. We do not think that they will leave this hand hanging.”

Erdogan’s hopes for talks with Assad follow calls from Turkey’s main opposition party for Ankara to pull back its troops from Syria and make peace with Damascus.

The opposition is pressing Erdogan to speed up the “voluntary” return of nearly four million Syrians who fled the fighting to Turkey.

Anti-refugee sentiments are running high in Turkey ahead of the election and Erdogan has hardened his once-accepting stance towards people displaced by war.

Kalin confirmed that Ankara was now pressing Damascus “to take steps for the return of refugees and the humane treatment of displaced Syrians”.

The mooted reconciliation has alarmed Syrian opposition leaders and supporters who reside mostly in parts of the war-torn country under Ankara’s indirect control.

The United States, Turkey’s NATO ally, made clear its opposition to improving relations with Assad, who last year travelled to the United Arab Emirates in his first trip since the war to another Arab country.