Iran sentenced five people to hang for killing a paramilitary member, the judiciary said on Tuesday, a ruling condemned by rights activists as a means to "spread fear" and stop protests over Mahsa Amini`s death, reports AFP.
Another 11 people, including three children, were handed long jail terms over the murder, judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi told a news conference, adding the sentences could be appealed.
Prosecutors said paramilitary member Ruhollah Ajamian, 27, was stripped naked and killed by a group of mourners who had been paying tribute to a slain protester, Hadis Najafi.
Najafi was killed on September 21, five days into the wave of protests that erupted across Iran after the death of Amini, following her arrest by the morality police for an alleged breach of the country`s hijab dress code for women.
Iran has struggled to quell the largely peaceful protests.
In a surprise move, Iran`s prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was Sunday quoted as saying that the morality police units –- known formally as Gasht-e Ershad ("Guidance Patrol") -- had been closed down.
But his comments have yet to be followed up by an official announcement and have drawn widespread scepticism.
Ajamian had died on November 3 in Karaj, west of Tehran, after being attacked with "knives, stones, fists, kicks" and being dragged along a street, said the judiciary spokesman.
He belonged to the Basij, a state-sanctioned volunteer force that is linked to Iran`s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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