Iran hanged Saleh Mohammadi, a 19-year-old international wrestler, in Qom prison. He was accused of stabbing a police officer during the January protests against the regime. Humanitarian organizations denounce that his confession was obtained under torture. Two other people were executed in the same act.
Surveillance technology and information control 🔍
This case evidences the use of state surveillance systems to identify dissidents. Authorities can employ facial recognition in protest recordings, tracking of digital communications, and geolocation for arrests. The counterpart are encryption tools and private networks used by activists to avoid monitoring. It is a cycle where technology serves both for repression and for the attempt to evade it.
User manual for authoritarian regimes ⚙️
Step 1: Declare a young athlete guilty based on a confession under torture. Step 2: Ignore requests for review from international organizations. Step 3: Execute the sentence quickly to avoid further attention. Step 4: Block access to social networks where the news spreads. Functionality guaranteed to suppress dissent, although the manual omits the part about the loss of global credibility. A user-unfriendly interface design, except for the executioner.