Tehran Residents Mark 40th Day Since Protester’s Execution With Banners, Rallies

Security forces in Tehran prevented mourners from gathering at a cemetery on January 17 to mark the end of a 40-day mourning period for a young man executed last month in connection with the ongoing wave of nationwide protests.

In other areas of the Iranian capital, protesters managed to hold rallies and put up banners of Mohsen Shekari, who was hanged on December 8 for allegedly injuring a member of the paramilitary Basij force.

Footage published on social networks shows one such demonstration in Haft-Howz area with the participants chanting "death to the dictator," in reference to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

🎥 نصب بنر اعتراضی در بزرگراه همت #تهران، به مناسبت چهلم «#محسن_شکاری». امروز ۲۷دی#اعتصابات_سراسری #مهسا_امینی #اعتراضات_سراسری #شهروندخبرنگار pic.twitter.com/Mjq04eqm5C

— ایران وایر (@iranwire) January 17, 2023

Shekari’s hanging was the first known execution connected to the anti-government demonstrations. Three other young men have since been hanged amid international condemnations.

Witnesses said that a large number of armed forces personnel were deployed in and around Tehran’s Behesht Zahra cemetery on January 17 to prevent mourners from gathering at Mohsen's grave.

"There are many officers and plainclothes forces around Mohsen's grave. We waited in other parts [of the cemetery] for half an hour, and everywhere we went, plainclothes officers came and didn't let the crowd gather," a local resident tweeted.

On the eve of the 40^th day since Shekari’s execution, footage shared on social media showed that his tombstone has been broken, apparently by Islamic Republic supporters.

Public anger erupted across Iran after the September death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of morality police.

The protest movement was met with a brutal crackdown by security forces in which more than 500 people were killed and over 18,000 were arrested, according to activists.

Around 20 people have been handed capital punishment in connection with the protests.