Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Iran executed three men on Sunday after they were convicted of carrying out operations for Israel and the US and taking part in armed unrest targeting the government in January, state media reported. Iran has executed at least 35 people in recent months over the unrest, which it has said caused almost 3,000 deaths and widespread destruction of public property weeks before the US and Israel launched the ongoing war against the country.
Human rights groups have said at least half of the 70 executions reported in Iran so far this year were directly tied to the unrest. The three men executed on Sunday were named Hassan Dioband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh. They were convicted of using firearms, grenades and Molotov cocktails, setting fire to public facilities and damaging an electricity substation in the city of Karaj, causing power outages . The judiciary said Dioband was arrested on 11 January after investigators identified him as a suspect in attacks on public property and incitement to violence.
Ten other persons accused of participating in the unrest under his supervision were subsequently arrested. After a trial, a lower court sentenced three of them to death and ordered their assets confiscated. It handed down prison terms of five to 10 years to the other accused. The Supreme Court subsequently upheld the sentences on appeal.
The Independent reports the execution of three men by relaying the Iranian judiciary's account, and in its own voice calls January's nationwide anti-government protests 'the unrest', never using the word protest. It gives Iran's claim that the unrest caused almost 3,000 deaths with nothing set against it, although other outlets reported that rights groups say security forces fired on protesters and that the toll was higher. Its headline also calls the events 'violent unrest' without the attribution the body gives.
Tells the event as something else
Serious
“over the unrest”
Why this matters
The Independent calls the January events 'the unrest' in its own voice. Nowhere in the article are they called protests.
The impression it gives
The reader believes January was a wave of disorder and attacks rather than a nationwide protest movement against the government.
The context
The same Reuters story elsewhere, and The Jerusalem Post, describe January's events as nationwide anti-government protests. The word protest is absent from the whole article.
Iran has executed at least 35 people in recent months over January's anti-government protests.
Gives a contested claim the last word
Serious
“which it has said caused almost 3,000 deaths and widespread destruction of public property”
Why this matters
The Independent gives Iran's claim that the unrest caused almost 3,000 deaths and sets nothing against it. The next sentence turns to the execution count.
The impression it gives
The reader believes the deaths were caused by the unrest, that is by the protesters or those the state blames.
The context
Rights organisations say Iranian security forces fired on protesters and that the true death toll was much higher. Times of Israel ran that alongside the same Reuters report.
Iran says almost 3,000 people died in the unrest, which it blames on the US and Israel; rights groups say security forces fired on protesters and that the true toll was much higher.
Headline goes beyond the article
Minor
“during violent unrest before war”
Why this matters
The headline states 'violent unrest' as fact in The Independent's own voice. The body gives the armed character of the unrest only as what state media reported.
The impression it gives
The reader believes it is established that the January events were violent unrest, and that the men's part in it is proven.
The context
The body attributes the 'armed unrest' description to state media. Other outlets reporting the same Reuters copy describe the events as anti-government protests and keep the attribution.
How we know
Elsewhere in the article“targeting the government in January, state media reported”