Iran on Saturday said it had killed the head of a network that trafficked Iranian women to neighboring countries, it was reported.
The country’s judiciary says that Shahrooz Sakhnoori, a man known by his alias “Alex” is the leader of a trafficking ring that sends Iranian women and girls across the border.
Reuters reported that Sakhnoori was executed on Saturday morning “for the crime of human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution”.
Local media reported that “Alex” was captured in Malaysia in coordination with Interpol and transferred to Iran in 2020. He was sentenced to death in September 2021.
This comes as authorities killed three men in connection with anti-government protests last year on Friday. The three were convicted for their alleged involvement in a shooting that killed three security personnel in Isfahan last November.
Majid Kazemi, 30, Saleh Mirhashemi, 36, and Saeed Yaqoubi, 37, were killed on Friday.
Local reports said crowds gathered outside the prison where they were being held on Thursday night as rumors of their impending execution grew.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said the three were subjected to unfair trials and allegedly tortured. Four more protesters have been hanged since December.
Many others were reportedly sentenced to death or commuted to death sentences for anti-regime protests.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR), tweeted that the latest killing “must have serious consequences” for Tehran or dozens of “other protesters who be at risk”. He added: “We must make the leaders of the Islamic republic understand that the killing of protesters will not be tolerated.”
Protests began across the country in Iran last year in September after 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini died while in the custody of Iran’s “morality police”.
Iran is one of the world’s leading butchers. At least 582 people were killed in 2022, up from 333 last year. The spate of killings, including drug offenses and vague charges of “hatred against God” and “spreading corruption in the land,” drew criticism from UN officials and human rights activists.
More reporting from the wires.
