Iran to execute first woman over anti-regime protests

Bita Hemmati’s husband was also sentenced to death, along with two other men

Iran is set to execute four people accused of participating in anti-government protests earlier this year.

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One of the demonstrators is Bita Hemmati, who is the first woman due to be hanged following the protests that broke out across the country in January.

Hemmati has been accused of numerous charges, including using explosives and weapons, throwing objects such as concrete blocks and bottles, and “harming stationed forces on-site,” according to a news release from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

The regime’s judiciary also listed “participating in protest gatherings,” “sending content with the aim of undermining security” and “chanting protest slogans” in line with “disrupting national security” and in connection with “hostile groups” as her crimes.

Hemmati’s husband Mohammadreza Majid Asl was also sentenced to death, along with two other men, Behrouz Zamaninezhad and Kourosh Zamaninezhad, both of whom lived in the same apartment building as the couple.

A fifth defendant in the case, Amir Hemmati, identified as a “relative” of the couple, was sentenced to five years of discretionary imprisonment on the charge of “assembly and collusion against national security,” and another eight months behind bars for “propaganda against the regime.”