An Iranian court has sentenced a bookshop owner to death for the serial rape of dozens of women.

Keyvan Emamverdi was arrested in August 2020 after around 300 women accused him of harassment or sexual assault with 30 of them going on to file an official complaint, according to local reports.

The assaults began at the start of 2019 and ended in August 2020 when he was arrested.

Many of the victims, who posted anonymously, accused the defendant on Twitter where the hashtag ‘rape’ started trending in Iran.

According to Shima Ghousheh, a lawyer representing five of the victims, the judicial authorities have sentenced the former bookshop owner to death for ‘corruption on Earth’.

The lawyer pointed out that the matter of compensation for the victims has yet to be addressed by the court, and that they may “object to this”.

According to local media, the defendant’s arrest was a rare move by the Iranian authorities who usually do not take further action against men in sexual violence cases without a private plaintiff.

The case sparked a ‘Me Too’ movement in Iran after dozens of victims came forwards online to accuse Emamverdi of spiking their drinks before allegedly raping them.

The police subsequently called on the victims to file a complaint against the man for the alleged abuses and 30 of them came forwards.