Iranian authorities on Monday said they had publicly hanged Majidrez Rahnavard, convicted of killing two members of a paramilitary unit.. This is the second death penalty for protesters since the Islamic Republic began cracking down on anti-government demonstrations that broke out in September..

State news agency Mizan posted images of a young man in light clothing with a head covering hanging from a rope attached to a crane at night..

Rahnavard was accused of stabbing two members of the Basij militia, a civilian-clothes volunteer group that is part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, last month in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, and injuring four others.. He was arrested on November 19 when he planned to flee Iran. Judge finds Rachnavard guilty of 'waging war against God'. He was convicted in the presence of his lawyers, witnesses and " Mizan reported that "

Iranian activists and public figures called the lawsuit "

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1500 Tasvir, an organization that shares information about the protests, tweeted that Rahnavard's mother visited him in prison but was not told that he would be executed..

Human Rights Activist News Agency, a U.S.-based Iranian opposition website, said Rahnavard was 23 years old and worked in a fruit shop in Mashhad before his arrest..

German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock said on Monday that the European Union will impose new sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards..

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Mashhad, like other cities in Iran, has been the scene of violent protests over the past three months against the current government of the Islamic Republic.. Protests erupted in September after "

Rahnavard is one of 11 protesters who have been sentenced to death by Tehran, according to the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights NGO.. The Iranian government announced last week that it had hanged a 23-year-old prisoner accused of blocking a street in Tehran and attacking a Basij member with a machete.. He was also accused of “starting a war against God”.

The executions were seen as an increase in the government's response to the demonstrations and an attempt to intimidate protesters who called for an end to clerical rule..

At least 458 people have died, including 63 children, and thousands more have been arrested in ongoing nationwide protests, according to Iran Human Rights..

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There is currently an ultra-conservative political class group in power in Iran that is directly affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), or Pasdaran, which is essentially a state within a state.. The IRGC can be compared with the troops of the Stalinist NKVD, reinforced with aviation, tanks and naval forces. Will these protests be the forerunner of dramatic changes in the country, will they lead to the fall of the fundamentalist regime? Read about this in the article by Igor Semivolos “Protests in Iran: what is happening and will the regime fall”.