The Islamic Republic regime executed 22-year-old Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini for the killing of a member of its paramilitary Basij forces during nationwide protests.
A trial was held for this case in mid-November 2022, and five people were sentenced to death and 11 others were sentenced to long prison terms.
The tribunals don’t allow those on trial to choose their own lawyers or even see the evidence against them. Amnesty International has stated that the trials “bore no resemblance to a meaningful judicial proceeding.”
Despite the global efforts to cancel the execution of these two protesters, the Supreme Court on Jan. 3 upheld the death sentence of Karmi and Hosseini but ordered retrials for three others on death row in the same case.
Human rights advocates have highlighted the unlawfulness of the trials, the lack of legal representation, and the prevalence of “coerced confessions” stemming from torture.
Iran’s judiciary doesn’t allow protesters and dissidents to choose their own lawyers during such trials, even though they bear death sentences for the defendants.
According to Iran’s laws, those on trial for crimes against national security can only be represented in court by lawyers who have the “endorsement” of the chief justice himself. Almost all dissidents are accused of acting against national security among other crimes, such as insulting the supreme leader or unlawful assembly.
The Jan. 7 hangings bring the total number of executions over the protests to four.
On Dec. 8, 2022, the Iranian regime hanged 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari after a secret trial in Iran’s Revolutionary Court. Four days later, in defiance of international condemnation of Shekari’s execution, Iran publicly hanged 23-year-old Majidreza Rahnavard in the Shiite holy city of Mashhad.
The latest executions come amid allegations that the confessions were forced. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) stated that more young Iranians, who were detained during nationwide protests, have received death sentences on vague political charges.
HRANA reported on Jan. 3 that Arshia Takdastan, 18, has been sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court in the northern city of Sari in Mazandaran province.
The charges that have led to the death sentence are “enmity with God” and “corruption on earth,” both vague principles in the Islamic republic’s law that the regime uses to issue death sentences. The Islamic Republic applies the charge to people who might get into a confrontation with security forces during protests.
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