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File photo - Participants of a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London over the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini. Alamy Stock Photo

More Iranians at imminent risk of execution, according to human rights groups

The protests have lasted almost three months, having been sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

SEVERAL IRANIANS ARE at risk of imminent execution over protests that have rocked the country’s clerical regime, rights groups warned, after an international backlash over Iran’s first hanging linked to the movement.

The almost three-month protest movement was sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by the Islamic republic’s morality police.

It is posing the biggest challenge to the regime since the shah’s ousting in 1979.

Iran calls the protests “riots” and says they have been encouraged by its foreign foes.

Authorities are responding with a crackdown activists say aims to instill fear in the public.

Iran on Thursday executed Mohsen Shekari, 23, who had been convicted of attacking a member of the security forces. Rights groups said his legal process, which they described as a show trial, was marked by undue haste.

Iran’s judiciary has reported that 11 people received death sentences so far in connection with the protests, but campaigners say around a dozen others are facing charges that could see them also receive the death penalty.

Unless foreign governments “significantly increase” the diplomatic and economic costs to Iran, the world “is sending a green light to this carnage”, said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

Amnesty International said Iran was now ”preparing to execute” Mahan Sadrat, 22, just a month after his “grossly unfair” trial. He was convicted of drawing a knife in the protests, accusations he strongly denied in court.

Yesterday, Sadrat was transferred from Greater Tehran Prison to Rajai Shahr prison in the nearby city of Karaj, “sparking concerns that his execution may be carried out imminently”, Amnesty said.

Show trial

“Like all other death row prisoners, he was denied any access to his lawyer during the interrogations, proceedings and show trial,” said another group, Oslo-based Iran Human Rights.

Amnesty warned the life of another young man arrested over the protests, Sahand Nourmohammadzadeh, was also at risk “after a fast-tracked proceeding which did not resemble a trial”.

He was sentenced to death in November on accusations of “tearing down highway railings and setting fire to rubbish cans and tires”, the group said.

Among others given the same sentence is rapper Saman Seyedi, 24, from Iran’s Kurdish minority. His mother pleaded for his life on social media in a video where she stated “my son is an artist not a rioter.”

Another dissident rapper, Toomaj Salehi, who expressed support for anti-regime protests, is charged with “corruption on earth” and could face a death sentence, Iranian judicial authorities confirmed last month.

“We fear for the life of Iranian artists who have been indicted on charges carrying the death penalty,” United Nations experts said in a statement, referring to the cases of Sayedi and Salehi.

Amnesty and IHR have also raised the case of Hamid Gharehasanlou, a medical doctor sentenced to death. They say he was tortured in custody and his wife was coerced into giving evidence against him which she later sought to retract.

‘Boundless contempt’ 

“Protester executions can only be prevented by raising their political cost for the Islamic Republic,” IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said, calling for a “stronger than ever” international response.

The US, European Union members and UK strongly condemned the execution of Shekari. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said it showed a “boundless contempt for human life”.

Iran on Saturday and Friday again summoned the British and German ambassadors to protest their countries’ actions, marking the 15th time in less than three months Tehran has called in foreign envoys as the demonstrations continue.

Many activists want the foreign response to go further, extending even to severing diplomatic ties with Iran and expelling Tehran’s envoys from European capitals.

After the widespread international outrage at Shekari’s execution, Iran said it was exercising restraint, both in the response by security forces, and the “proportionality” of the judicial process.

Iran’s use of the death penalty is part of a crackdown that IHR says has left at least 458 people killed by the security forces.

According to the UN, at least 14,000 have been arrested.

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    Mute G.W.
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    Aug 29th 2016, 5:14 PM

    Monster ones on Burrow Beach, Sutton. One was nearly a metre wide! STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS…………..(hopefully the traffic won’t be so bad now heading home)

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    Mute Tweety McTweeter
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    Aug 29th 2016, 6:16 PM

    DO NOT MAKE ANY UNNECESSARY JOURNEYS!!

    85
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    Mute Val Rossi
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    Aug 29th 2016, 6:34 PM

    Bloody foreigner jellyfish coming over here stinging our women.

    74
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    Mute neuromancer
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    Aug 29th 2016, 6:00 PM

    Kill it. Kill it with fire.

    65
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    Mute Paul Mc
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    Aug 29th 2016, 6:20 PM

    Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining.

    29
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    Mute Helga Pataki
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    Aug 29th 2016, 5:29 PM

    These guys coming here to ride our generous welfare system ?

    60
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    Mute tom
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    Aug 29th 2016, 5:39 PM

    will jellyfish live long enough to make it to head of queue

    23
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    Mute Fergal O'Hagan
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    Aug 29th 2016, 5:04 PM

    Lots of them on bettystown beach, counted at least 10 last night on the sand

    42
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    Mute Elma Phudd
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    Aug 29th 2016, 5:44 PM

    There’s gotta be a gag about drawing a lion in the sand, but it’s just not working for me.

    59
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    Mute Ricky McCabe
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    Aug 29th 2016, 6:23 PM

    Huge amount of them on the beach between Balbriggan and Gormanstown….have a craving all day for Trifle , no idea why

    34
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    Mute brian boru
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    Aug 29th 2016, 5:27 PM

    Come on Darragh these Bad boys turn up every year and give the equivalent of a nettle sting. They are also one of the most beautiful creatures we have around our coastline and are incredibly beautiful under water. I know you know this why all the drama this year?

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    Mute Louis Jacob
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    Aug 29th 2016, 5:35 PM

    I saw that lady on Sherkin Island last week and she was in a terrible state… She was very lucky to make it. I’ve lived down here all my life, nearly 40 years, and I have never seen anything like it.

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    Mute Louis Jacob
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    Aug 29th 2016, 5:36 PM

    And btw I’ve also seen people stung by nettle stings…

    24
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    Mute John Mulligan
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    Aug 29th 2016, 5:26 PM

    A few on Skerries beach right now

    23
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    Mute Poole Hyde
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    Aug 29th 2016, 5:50 PM

    Used to spend summers there with my aunt in the 80′s and depending on the conditions the beach would be covered with thousands of the jellyfish. Not sure if they were these guys though. The gulls usually made short work of them.

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    Mute Tom Sheridan
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    Aug 29th 2016, 5:30 PM

    “The increase coincides with a rise in temperatures this week….Our waters are much too warm for the larger versions. ” !!!! Might this imply that when the weather and waters cool we will get the larger ones?

    23
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    Mute Colette Kearns
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    Aug 29th 2016, 5:35 PM

    So Joey & Monica shouldn’t have bothered going through all that embarrassment! !

    10
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    Mute Charles Coughlan
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    Aug 29th 2016, 6:27 PM

    They have been all over South West Ireland for the past two months, nobody notices :-)

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    Mute Bríd Uí Mhaoluala
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    Aug 29th 2016, 11:32 PM

    None in West Kerry 3 weeks ago

    1
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    Mute James Delaney
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    Aug 30th 2016, 1:01 AM

    I heard there was many of them in Tralee last week.

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    Mute Winston Smith
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    Aug 29th 2016, 8:20 PM

    I fear someone at the Joural is suffering from a sever case of Cnidophobia because this is at least the third if not more articles on the subject of Jellyfish epidemics!…I only hope you find a cure fast but in the meatime this may help.
    http://common-phobias.com/Cnido/phobia.htm

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    Mute Amy Smith
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    Aug 29th 2016, 7:56 PM

    Jellyfish stings are so painful!

    7
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    Mute Trisec Training
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    Aug 29th 2016, 6:51 PM

    Was watching jellies swimming last Sunday. Lovely creatures.
    They move slowly, so can be easily observed. Watch out for little fish living within the jellies.
    Hope to see them again on Thursday

    6
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    Mute Science of beer
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    Aug 29th 2016, 7:35 PM

    What a load of toss. I spent 7 hours surfing yesterday on the SE coast and the water was full of jellies. Not one sting. This article is crap and just scaremongering.

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    Mute brian magee
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    Aug 29th 2016, 10:02 PM

    I Persume that you were in a wetsuit. Was the ride on its way in or out ?

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    Mute James Delaney
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    Aug 30th 2016, 1:06 AM

    Please clarify – The RIDE or the TIDE ?

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Aug 29th 2016, 6:59 PM

    I just avoid the jellyfish and the jellyfish don’t attack me.

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    Mute Henry Howard
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    Aug 29th 2016, 10:41 PM

    Comparing the sting to a nettle sting is ludicrous. I was stung by one in Howth a few years ago and it was the worst experience ever. Multiple spasms and no sleep for over 24 hours. All the piss/vinegar in Dublin wouldn’t have helped!

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    Mute James Delaney
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    Aug 30th 2016, 1:04 AM

    @henry howard – And what were the effects of the jellyfish sting ?

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    Mute James Delaney
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    Aug 30th 2016, 12:59 AM

    That Red jellyfish is the Labour party jellyfish – If you get stung by one, U’ll be Howlin for at least 5 yrs after. They make ya moan & do worse damage than ya’d ever think.

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    Mute Abinger Gregorious Hammer
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    Aug 30th 2016, 8:46 AM

    There’s a famous seafood restaurant in Bangkok that advertises,’ If it swims we serve it’. I was less than impressed as I ordered steamed jellyfish only to be politely informed that they didn’t cook jellyfish. I pointed out that their advertising campaign was false.

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    Mute Soft Wind Roses
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    Aug 29th 2016, 7:38 PM

    Had to get out of the sea in Hole in the Wall in Sutton yesterday after warning from lifeguard :(
    About 40 on the beach that day …

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