Lawyers and human rights groups have condemned Iran for executing a man accused of killing a Revolutionary Guard during women’s rights protests.

The family of Gholamreza “Reza” Rasaei and his lawyer were not informed in advance of the execution on Monday. The Iranian judiciary website later announced the action against the 34-year-old, who Iran says stabbed a member of the Revolutionary Guard.

Rasaei, a member of the Kurdish and Yaresan ethnic and religious minority, was arrested in November 2022 after taking part in the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests. Amnesty International called his trial “extremely unfair” and noted that he used confessions extracted under torture as evidence.

The protests were a response to the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, a young woman who was arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating the country’s veiling laws.

Dadban, a group of pro bono lawyers representing Iranian political prisoners, and Amnesty International are among the organizations condemning Iran’s actions as unfair and unlawful.

“The ongoing arbitrary executions of protesters in the wake of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising underscore once again that human rights violations and impunity will persist without constitutional, legal and policy reforms,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director, in a statement.

As Amnesty International has previously reported, between 15,000 and 16,000 people were arrested in Iran in the first week of protests. The detainees reported widespread torture and ill-treatment, according to the human rights organization.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not respond to VOA’s email seeking comment.

Rasaei was the tenth person executed in connection with the protests.

Human rights lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher also condemned the action and described the case as a “hoax”. Gallagher works for the British law firm Doughty Street Chambers, which represents high-profile cases, including those of Nobel Prize winner and journalist Maria Ressa and the imprisoned pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai.

“Reza Rasaei – a supporter of #WomenLifeFreedom – was secretly executed after being convicted on bogus charges, a grossly unfair trial and sustained torture. No one should now cling to the illusion of a ‘reformist’ president; this is the reality,” Gallagher said in a post on X.

Eltahawy said the case against Rasaei underscores the need for states to hold Iranian officials accountable by initiating criminal investigations in accordance with international standards.

Journalists and activists, including Iranian actress Nazanin Boniadi, also condemned the execution on social media.