Montreal’s Iranian community condemns latest executions by IRGC

Iranian Montrealers marched in the street Saturday to denounce the latest executions in connection with last year’s anti-government protests.

Iran on Friday executed three men accused of deadly violence during the protests, despite objections from human rights groups.

Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were executed. Authorities say they killed a police officer and two members of the paramilitary Basij group in the city of Isfahan in November during nationwide protests.

Rights groups say the three were subjected to torture, forced into televised confessions and denied due process.

Montrealers rallied Saturday afternoon in front of McGill University’s Roddick Gates for a “No to executions in Iran” protest – the latest in a series of demonstrations showing support with anti-government protesters and opposing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

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Protesters held posters showing the men’s names and faces. “Executed by the IRGC for protesting,” one sign read. “Stop execution in Iran,” read another.

Three protesters marched holding nooses, a grim representation of execution.

Protests in Iran erupted last September after the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly violating its strict Islamic dress code. The demonstrations rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the theocracy that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran has executed a total of seven people in connection with the protests.

Montreal’s Iranian community, led by the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, is asking for the Canadian government to identify the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

—With files from The Associated Press