The Iranian government announced that it had hanged a 23-year-old prisoner on Thursday, the first known execution of a person arrested in the protests that have engulfed the country for the past three months.
The man, Mohsen Shekari, was accused of blocking a street in Tehran and of attacking a member of the Basij militia with a machete, according to the Mizan news agency, which is overseen by the country’s judiciary. He is one of 11 protesters who have so far been sentenced to death by the regime.
The announcement came during a week that saw businesses, shops and traditional bazaars in more than 50 cities across Iran participate in one of the largest general strikes in decades in support of protests calling for the end to the authoritarian clerical rule that has been in place since 1979.
Mr. Shekari was arrested on Sept. 25, and sentenced on Nov. 20 by Iran’s Revolutionary Court, a special court for political cases and political prisoners, the agency said. He was accused of “moharebeh,” or waging war against God, a charge that carries an automatic death sentence.
