Iran charges 11 protesters over death of paramilitary member

Iran indicted 11 people over the murder of a Basij paramilitary force member during a ceremony last week in honor of a slain protester, a judiciary official said Saturday.

The incident happened on November 3 in Karaj, the capital of Alborz province, when mourners were paying tribute to Hadis Najafi at the cemetery to mark 40 days after she was killed in the city. Her death on September 21 came five days into nationwide protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, following her arrest for a breach of Iran's hijab dress rules for women.

Eleven people, including a woman, were summoned and charged over the killing of Basij member Ruhollah Ajamian, said Alborz province's judiciary chief Hossein Fazeli Harikandi.

The Basij is a state-sanctioned volunteer force that is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Click here for an Explainer on Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

The indictments followed an investigation launched after images posted on social media networks showed "a group of rioters assaulting and killing" Ajamian, the judiciary's Mizan Online website quoted him as saying.

"Rioters attacked this security officer, who was unarmed, stripped him naked, stabbed him with knives, beat him with brass knuckles, stones, and kicks, and then dragged his naked and half-dead body on the asphalt street and between cars in a horrific manner," Harikandi added.

Some face charges of "corruption on earth," one of the most serious offenses under Iranian law which is punishable by death.

They were also accused of serious disturbance of public order leading to murder, gathering with the intention to commit crimes against the country's security, and propaganda against the state.

More than 300 people have been killed in the brutal crackdown on the protests, according to the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR), as demonstrations grew into a broad movement against the theocracy that has ruled Iran since the 1979 fall of the shah.