Iran has executed a Sufi man who allegedly rammed a bus into police officers as they tried to disperse a rally, killing three of them.

The official website of the judiciary said Mohammad Salas was hanged early Monday. Salas had testified in March that he was trying to get away from the clashes at the time.

The sole piece of evidence used to convict Salas was a forced confession after he was beaten by officers. He has then retracted his confession and said new evidence exonorated him.

Salas had said he awoke disoriented and drowsy while in custody to find an investigator beside him. He has limited literacy and was unable to read the statement confessing to the murders, Amnesty International reported.

The interrogation occurred without a lawyer present.

At the final trial session on 18 March 2018, Salas said he had been tortured while in custody. He said that several witnesses present confirmed he was already in jail when the three policemen were struck and killed.

Several eyewitneses were reportedly ready to give eyewitness testimonies supporting Salas' account. They said that a young man was the person behind the wheel of the bus, not 51-year-old Salas.

"In their haste to do justice, the authorities have trampled all over this man's rights," said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at ‎Amnesty International, in a release.

The clashes broke out in February when supporters of Sufi leader Nourali Tabandeh rallied outside his home, fearing his possible arrest.

Security forces fired live ammunition, water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd. The three officers - Reza Emami, Mohammad Ali Bayrami and Reza Moradi Alamdar - were killed around 6:30 pm. Salas was arrested between 2:30 and 4:30 pm, according to witnesses.

Iran's clerically overseen government frowns on Sufism, the mystical strain of Islam. Many conservatives view it as a deviation from the faith.

Rights groups say Iran is one of the world's leading executioners, and have repeatedly called on it to abolish the death penalty.

Empiree:

The issue of Mohammad Salas is local one. So they should worry about important things and let human right groups in iran handle this one.

Empiree:
We need to be very careful in this tough times with the way media word their headlines. Most reports on this issue is reported by western media. They know Sufis have soft spot for Iran/shi'i. Be careful they might have bigger plan. Why not simply say "Iran hangs a man...." Mohammad Salas himself appears to be Iranian. And they got it wrong for saying Iran frowns at sufism and see it as "deviation". Now, this really tells me the media is on a mission. Sufism is alive in Iran very well for a long time. Not just in Iran but also in Shi'ism.

They might be trying to get sufis to clash with Iran/shi'i. That aside, I am not in position to verify details of this incident. But what is clear is that what they reported happened to Mohammad Salas is very well alive in western world. It is not new at all.This so called amnesty international are hypocrites. If they really care about human rights, Palestinians are there, kashmir are there Burmese are there but they prefer to cause schism among muslims. Don't fall for their antics.

The issue of Mohammad Salas is local one. So they should worry about important things and let human right groups in iran handle this one.

Demmzy15:
alaraby isn't a Western news, I don't know why when you see news articles or posts that doesn't suite your narrative or position you automatically term them "western news". But I'm sure if it was Saudi Arabia that executed him, even if it's from the Israelis you'll pounce on it. The clarification by AlBaqir is kinda fair but yours doesn't make any sense at all!

Come up with something better as excuse not this "western news antics", it's nauseating and boring?

Empiree:
Well, when i googled the title what came up from the first 10 on my search engine various are Western media outlets. I only see abcnews, london mail etc. So keep guessing pal.


***modified***

Just researched again and i noticed the same. However, the top list says alarab.co.uk. Next after that are bunch of abcnew and another london new outlet then jakarta. The last result is Iran new media itself. Iran new simply say in the headline "Iran executed a man". It made no mention of any adjective next to it.

Demmzy15:
Now check again, western news of course carried the news but the first to report wasn't them. https://www.google.com/search?q=Sufi+killed+in+Iran&client=ucweb-b&channel=sb

Demmzy15:
Now check again, western news of course carried the news but the first to report wasn't them. https://www.google.com/search?q=Sufi+killed+in+Iran&client=ucweb-b&channel=sb

Abuheekmat:
Shia killing sufi..

Awo ra wo ni..


Keferi ni awon mejeeji tele na