Five men apparently unknown to each other were probably forced to give false confessions

An actor, a radiologist, a poultry business employee, a karate champion, an engineer – these are five men sentenced to death in Iran for alleged crimes linked to anti-regime protests. The charges raised against them included murder. With court hearings held largely in secret, their trials have been widely condemned as a sham.

All are due to be executed in connection with the killing of an agent from the country’s feared paramilitary forces, the Basij. The court says Ruhollah Ajamian, 27, was stripped naked and murdered on 3 November. But the circumstances of Ajamian’s death are opaque. The alleged attack occurred at a protest commemorating a demonstrator, Hadis Najafi, who had been shot dead by security forces at a rally demanding rights for women.