The judiciary’s Mizan news agency said the men had been convicted of the November 3 murder of Ruhollah Ajamian, a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ voluntary Basij Force, in the city of Karaj outside Tehran. detaining demonstrators, who in many cases have fought back.
Heavily edited footage broadcast on state television showed Karami speaking before a Revolutionary Court about the attack, which prosecutors said also showed a reenactment of the attack. Iran’s Revolutionary Courts handed down the two other death sentences already carried out.
The tribunals do not allow those on trial to choose their own lawyers or even see the evidence against them. Amnesty International has said the trials bore “no resemblance to a meaningful judicial process”.
State television also broadcast footage of Karami and Hosseini speaking about the attack, although for years it has broadcast what activists describe as coerced confessions.
The men were convicted of the murder and of “corruption on earth,” a Quranic term and indictment used against others in the decades since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which carries the death penalty.
Activists say at least 16 people have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings on charges related to the protests. Death sentences in Iran are usually carried out by hanging.
At least 517 protesters have been killed and more than 19,200 people have been arrested, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has closely followed the unrest. Iranian authorities have not provided an official count of the dead or prisoners.
The protests began in mid-September, when 22-year-old Amini died after being arrested by Iran’s vice squad for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. Women have played a leading role in the protests, with many publicly removing the mandatory Islamic headscarf, also known as the hijab.
The protests mark one of the biggest challenges for the Iranian theocracy since the 1979 revolution. Security forces have used live ammunition, birdshots, tear gas and batons to disperse protesters, according to human rights groups.
