Despite protests and pleas, the Iranian government has refused to back down, accusing him of being an “enemy of God”, a crime the Iranian regime deems punishable by death.
The National Union for Democracy in Iran said Soltani’s “only crime was calling for freedom”.
The Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights spoke to the man’s family, who said they are “shocked” by the situation.
Their son was never a political activist, just part of the younger generation who were protesting the current situation in Iran, Arina Moradi, a member of the organisation, told the Daily Mail.
Soltani’s execution is said to be the first linked to the protests which first began on December 27.
Internet and phone lines have been cut off in Iran, where the government continues to try to stop the protests.
More than 400 demonstrators have been killed so far in the two weeks of protests and more than 10,000 people have been arrested.
Amnesty International said the “blanket internet shutdown” aims to “hide the true extent of the grave human rights violations and crimes under international law they are carrying out to crush” the protests.
The protests in Iran are the biggest movement against the Islamic republic in more than three years. They erupted in December in response to the country’s economic conditions and the country’s decades-long clerical rule.
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