Shortly after Pope Francis broke his silence about the nationwide protests convulsing Iran, dozens of Iranians demonstrated outside a prison as regime authorities were said to be preparing to execute another two anti-government protesters. In his annual foreign policy speech on Monday, the pope denounced the hardline Iranian regime’s recourse to the death penalty and seemingly legitimized the rallies as demonstrations “demanding greater respect for the dignity of women.”

“The right to life is also threatened in those places where the death penalty continues to be imposed, as is the case in these days in Iran, following the recent demonstrations demanding greater respect for the dignity of women,” the pope said, adding that “the death penalty cannot be employed for a purported state justice, since it does not constitute a deterrent nor render justice to victims, but only fuels the thirst for vengeance.”

The pope’s remarks followed Iran’s execution of two protesters, Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, over the weekend. Anti-regime protests that began in September are gripping the country, with multiple reports of 25 demonstrations happening in at least 17 cities. Social media posts have in some instances shown what appear to be security officials firing in the direction of protesters. 

The BBC reported that overnight Monday dozens of people demonstrated outside the Rajai Shahr jail in the city of Karaj, ahead of authorities’ planned execution of two more anti-regime protesters. At that demonstration the mother of 23-year-old Mohammad Ghobadlou, one of the two men reportedly at risk of execution, appealed for clemency. 

Pope Francis’s comments marked his first public remarks about the protests that erupted in Iran in mid-September over the death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old woman died after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. Women have played a leading role in the protests, with many publicly removing the compulsory Islamic headscarf, or hijab.

At least four people have been executed since the demonstrations began, following internationally criticized closed-door trials. And at least 519 people have been killed in the monthslong demonstrations, with more than 19,200 others arrested, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that’s been monitoring the protests since they began. It has become one of the greatest challenges to Iran’s Shiite theocracy since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

There was no immediate reaction to Francis’s remarks, though Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday called for a “stern” reaction to the ongoing demonstrations. He said those who set fire to public places had committed “treason with no doubt” — a crime that carries the death penalty in the Islamic Republic. He also repeated an allegation that foreign powers had fomented the unrest, without providing evidence to support the claim.

The remarks could embolden authorities to continue the harsh punishment of detainees.

Sky News reported that Iranian forces appeared to expect heightened protest action and last week installed surveillance cameras in the city of Javanrud, in Iran’s west. Although it is impossible to know the exact number of protests going on in Iran, it is likely the number is higher than what is generally being reported. 

The reason for that, as an expert who spoke to Sky News said, is that more and more protesters are leaving their phones at home because people are being attacked for filming and subsequently harassed if they are found with footage from protests when they are arrested.