Iran executed two young men on Sunday after they were accused of helping frightened protesters escape the regime’s security forces during the mass demonstrations that swept the country earlier this year.
Erfan Esfandiari, 18, and Gol-Mohammad Mohammadi, a 23-year-old Afghan refugee, were hanged for giving demonstrators shelter from government gunfire and allowing them to hide in their homes, Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad wrote for the Free Press, citing local reports.
The two were among 59 men arrested together during January protests in Shahid Alikhani Square in Isfahan, where Iranian authorities say four members of the security forces were killed.
Twelve of those arrested, including Esfandiari and Mohammadi, were later sentenced to death.
Alinejad said the dozen prisoners were transferred into quarantine last week, a move that often signals imminent executions and suggests the remaining 10 could soon be put to death.
“Erfan Esfandiari … was his parents first child,” Alinejad wrote in a social media post that was shared by President Trump.
“He did not kill anyone. He did not carry a weapon. His crime, according to the Islamic Republic, was opening a door. Sheltering protesters who were running from security forces. That was enough to send him to the gallows.”
