Demonstrations have swept Iran for nearly three months since Amini died after her arrest by the “morality police” in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country's hijab dress code for women.

"Mohsen Shekari, a rioter who blocked Sattar Khan Street in Tehran on Sept. 25 and wounded one of the security guards with a machete, was executed this morning," the judiciary's Mizan Online website said.

The revolutionary court in Tehran heard Shekari had been arrested after striking the member of the Basij paramilitary force in the shoulder with the blade, an injury that required 13 stitches, Mizan Online said.

The judiciary said Shekari was found guilty of fighting and drawing a weapon "with the intention of killing, causing terror and disturbing the order and security of society."

It convicted him of "moharebeh" or waging "war against God" under Iran's Islamic sharia law, on Nov. 1, said Mizan, adding that he appealed the ruling but the supreme court upheld it on Nov. 20.

Wave of protests

The protests broke out over the Sept. 16 death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's dress code for women.

Women, university students and schoolgirls have led the demonstrations, removing and burning their headscarves in the streets, chanting anti-government slogans and confronting the security forces.

Iran, which has struggled to contain the protests, describes them as "riots" fomented by its arch foe the United States and its allies, including Britain and Israel.

Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said the security forces have responded with a crackdown that has killed at least 458 people, including 63 children, in an updated toll issued on Wednesday.

The crackdown, which has drawn widespread international criticism, has also seen thousands of people arrested, including academics, journalists and lawyers.

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Nov. 24 voted to create a high-level investigation into the crackdown, a move that Iran rejected and said violated its national sovereignty.

The Basij is a state-sanctioned volunteer force that is linked to Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

An Iranian court on Tuesday sentenced five people to death by hanging for killing a Basij member.

The judgment brought the number to 11 people sentenced to death in connection with the protests, in what London-based rights group Amnesty International has branded "sham trials."

‘Day of terror’

Many Iranian workers went on strike and students boycotted classes, after youth groups called on people to take to the streets and turn the annual Students' Day on Wednesday into a "day of terror for the state."

Many shops were shuttered and youth were seen marching and chanting protest slogans across the country, at times defying a heavy security presence, in videos posted online by activists and rights groups.

"Be afraid, be afraid, we are all together," students were heard shouting in a message aimed at the government, at the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, in a video published by the social media monitor 1500tasvir.

BBC Persian published footage that appeared to show students protesting against the presence of ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi at Tehran University, with security forces pushing the demonstrators back.

Ex-president backs protests

In a speech delivered on campus, Raisi praised students for their welcome, despite the demonstrations and street violence triggered by Amini's death in custody.

"I thank the dear and insightful students who did not allow the atmosphere of the university to become an atmosphere of riots," Raisi said on Students' Day, which marks the 1953 killing by the shah's security forces of three students.

"Those who are brutally and unjustly killing our loved ones are rioters," he said. "Our people and the student community understand the difference between protests and riots."

His speech came after Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who served as Iran's president from 1997 to 2005 but has been effectively silenced by the establishment for years, voiced support for the protest movement.

The 79-year-old described the protest slogan "Woman, life, freedom" as "a beautiful message that shows movement towards a better future."

"Freedom and security must not be placed against each other," he said in a statement quoted by ISNA news agency on the eve of Students' Day.

The sister of Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also threw her support behind the protests and slammed her brother's "despotic" rule in a letter published online on Wednesday by her France-based son.

Badri Hosseini Khamenei, who is believed to be in Iran, accused the regime of bringing "nothing but suffering and oppression to Iran and Iranians" since it was established following the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the shah.

Popular

Why Indonesia must write ASEAN’s green rules

Freeport Indonesia pushes back full copper mine restart

Growth without gain: Why Indonesians don't feel the economy