![\"mostafa-salehi-1\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/mostafa-salehi-1-1024x512.jpg\" "\\"mostafa-salehi-1\\"")
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Early in the morning of Wednesday, August 5, the Iranian\u00a0<\/span>regime<\/span>\u00a0carried out the execution of an activist named Mostafa Salehi.<\/a> The charges against him stemmed from his participation in a nationwide uprising at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018. His hanging therefore stands as a symbol the regime\u2019s ongoing commitment to stamping out anti-<\/span>regime<\/span>\u00a0sentiment. And in the wake of social media campaigns to save other detainees from the noose, it is also a symbol of the regime\u2019s resistance to both domestic and international pressure over such matters.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Iranian\u00a0<\/span>opposition<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>president Mrs.\u00a0<\/a><\/span>\u00a0Maryam Rajavi<\/a> reacted to the hanging by urging a further increase in such pressure. She described the execution as an example of the fundamentalist dictatorship trying to \u201cterrorize the public and thwart the outbreak of any uprising.\u201d T<\/span>he regime\u2019s utter fear of an uprising and its desperate attempts to thwart could be seen in<\/span>\u00a0a variety of statements from high-ranking Iranian regime officials, including\u00a0<\/span>regime\u00a0<\/span>Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, warning of the possibility that additional widespread protests will emerge in the coming days, modeled on the January 2018 uprising.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the wake of that uprising, Mrs. Rajavi\u00a0<\/a><\/span>called on Iranian and the<\/span>\u00a0supporters of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and said that the entirety of\u00a0<\/span>2018<\/span>\u00a0should be made into a \u201cyear full of uprisings.\u201d Activists in numerous localities obliged with\u00a0<\/span>recurring demonstrations that defied the authorities\u2019 efforts at repression. Those protests helped to keep alive the slogans and demands that had defined the nationwide uprising. Among these were chants of \u201cdeath to the dictator,\u201d condemnations of both factions of <\/span>the regime<\/span>, and demands for a democratic alternative to the entire existing <\/span>theocratic<\/span>\u00a0structure.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The \u201cyear full of uprisings\u201d ultimately set the stage for another movement that returned the same message of regime change to a national platform. The follow-up to the January 2018 uprising was even larger, encompassing approximately 200 cities and towns in a matter of only days. But the N<\/a><\/span>ovember 2019 uprising also eclipsed its predecessor in terms of the political violence to which it was subjected.<\/span>\u00a0While several dozen activists were killed in connection with the earlier movement, the\u00a0<\/span>regime\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0Revolutionary Guard\u00a0<\/span><\/a>(IRGC)\u00a0<\/span>almost immediately began firing into the crowds last November, and thus killed upwards of 1,500 people.<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The immediate killings were supplemented by capital sentences for various activists who were either known or merely suspected to have been involved in the two sets of protests. And last week\u2019s execution of Mostafa Sa<\/a><\/span>lehi indicates that the crackdown has not yet ended for either uprising. But this should come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with the Iranian regime\u2019s human rights record and modus operandi.<\/span>\u00a0It is also a sign of the regime\u2019s utter fear of another uprising.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While the\u00a0<\/span>regime<\/span>\u00a0routinely maintains the world\u2019s highest rate of executions per capita, it never seems to catch up on its backlog of prisoners, including political prisoners, whom it plans to kill at some point in the future.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The day after hanging Salehi, the judiciary moved to uphold its death sentence for a Kurdish activist, Haider Ghorbani<\/a>, in connection with activities dating from before 2016. Meanwhile, a participant in the 2019 uprising, Fatemeh Davand, was transferred to a new prison after having completed a five-month sentence, in order to begin serving a staggering five and a half years for the vague crime of \u201cassembly and collusion against national security.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Branch 27 of the Iranian regime\u2019s so-called Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence issued for political prisoner Heydar Ghorbani from the city of Kamyaran in Kuridstan province, western Iran.#StopExecutionsInIran<\/a> #\u0627\u0639\u062f\u0627\u0645_\u0646\u06a9\u0646\u06cc\u062f<\/a>#\u0644\u063a\u0648_\u0641\u0648\u0631\u06cc_\u0627\u0639\u062f\u0627\u0645<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/sqFPCHLtyb<\/a><\/p>\n — People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) August 9, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n