Sentences of 109 years in prison and 2,590 lashes issued for 36 people arrested in the November protests in Behbahan / Documents

Branch 102 of the Criminal Court of the two counties of Behbahan sentenced 36 citizens arrested during the November 2019 protests to a total of 109 years in prison, 2,590 lashes, and a fine of three million three hundred thousand tomans to the state treasury. This verdict was issued today, Thursday, November 2, on the eve of the first anniversary of the protests, and was communicated to the defendants.

According to HRANA News Agency, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, the Criminal Court of Two Cities of Behbahan sentenced 36 citizens arrested during the November 2019 protests to imprisonment, flogging, and fines.

Based on these sentences, which were issued on October 20, 2020 by Branch 102 of the Criminal Court of Behbahan City, headed by Rasoul Asadpour, and notified to them today, Thursday, November 2, 2020, these citizens have been sentenced to a total of 109 years in prison, 2,590 lashes, and a fine of three million and three hundred thousand tomans to the state treasury. The charges against these individuals, based on the issued verdict, are: “1. Participation in disrupting public order, 2. Clashes, 3. Illegal gathering, 4. Rebellion against officers while on duty, 5. Participation in arson of public property, 6. Destruction of banks and gas stations in Behbahan City, and participation in the destruction of public property.”

Based on the issued verdict, the court, regarding the reasons for issuing this verdict, has relied on the indictment issued by the Behbahan City Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office and the investigations conducted, and considering the reports of the Behbahan Intelligence and Public Security Police, the reports of the Behbahan Intelligence Department, the investigations conducted, and the supplementary reports of the law enforcement authority, the report of the Behbahan Comprehensive Intelligence Commission regarding the role of each of the defendants during the November protests, the reports received from the Behbahan IRGC Intelligence Department, reports and images related to the presence of most of the defendants in the protests, the statements of most of the defendants to be present at the protest site, and the defendants' unfounded defenses regarding the aforementioned reasons, the complaints of the Export, Housing, and Welfare Banks.

The following reports list the names of the defendants in the case and the verdict issued for each of these individuals based on the indictment:

Accordingly, the defendants are: 1. Ali Safdari, son of Orang 2. Bahman Amini Nasrabad Sofli, son of Nabiullah 3. Sebhat (Solomon) Qaderi, son of Mohammad Ali 4. Milad Semanati, son of Tahmasb 5. Mohammad Tayyibi, son of Mandani 6. Ahmad Afraz, son of Nir Ali 7. Mohammad Amin Tejm, son of Ibrahim 8. Ruhollah Tayyibi, son of Baqer 9. Siavash Mirasmaeili, son of Mohammad Reza 10. Reza Mahzab, son of Ali 11. Hassan Ziyarti, son of Karim 12. Peyman Imani Moghadam, son of Nader 13. Sajjad Kamaei Bahmani, son of Mohammad Baqer 14. Seyed Jamaluddin Vahdani, son of Seyed Ali 15. Reza Hashemi Nejadshabani, son of Abdol Reza 16. Hossein Akbari, son of Abdol Khalil 17. Reza Adelin Nejad, son of Musa 18. Hossein Turab, son of Mohammad 19. Mehdi Sokoti, son of Mandani 20. Mehran Doost, son of Mohammad Murad, have each been sentenced to one year in prison, including previous detention, and 74 lashes, on the charge of "participating in disturbing public order."

Also, the defendants in rows 21. Mohammad Amir Mohseni, son of Kamal, 22. Omid (Saeed) Moaidfar, son of Mohammad Ali, 23. Mohammad Dodangehneshin, son of Ali Reza, 24. Mohammad Reza Kazemi, son of Ali, 25. Hossein (Ali) Ahmadi Bardzard, son of Mohammad Yar, 26. Sajjad Rawod, son of Zafar, have each been sentenced to 1 year in prison and 74 lashes for the charge of disturbing public order (charge under Section A) and 1 year in prison for the charge of rebellion (charge under Section B). The punishment under Section (A) is applicable to these individuals.

Defendant Row 27: Roqiyeh Taherzadeh Mousavian, son of Abdul Hamid, has been sentenced to pay a fine of three million three hundred thousand tomans to the government fund in lieu of three months of imprisonment on the charge of "insulting government officials while performing their duties."

Defendant Row 28: Maryam (Kowsar) Payab, Toofani's daughter, has been sentenced to 1 year in prison and 74 lashes on the charge of "disturbing public order."

Defendants in row 29. Fazel Chireh, son of Garg Ali 30. Sattar Afshinpour, son of Rahim 31. Mahmoud Dehdashti Akhavan, son of Mohammad 32. Farshid Jahantab, son of Juma 33. Hossein Fathi, son of Taj Mohammad, have been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the charge of destroying and burning banks and public facilities (charge under section A) and to 1 year in prison and 74 lashes for the charge of disturbing public order (charge under section B). The punishment under section (A) is applicable to these individuals.

Defendant 34. Afshin Anharipour, Rostam's son, has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for stealing property and facilities used by the public (charge under Section A) and 1 year in prison and 74 lashes for disturbing public order (charge under Section B). The punishment under Section (A) is applicable to him.

Defendant Row 35. Ahmad Hatampour, son of Rahman, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the charge of destroying and burning banks and public facilities (charge A) and to 1 year in prison and 74 lashes for the charge of disturbing public order (charge B). The punishment of charge (A) is applicable to him.

Defendant No. 36, Amin Jafari, son of Ayub, has been sentenced to pay a total of 23.01% of the full value of the blood money to the injured Mr. Alireza Alalah for blood money and compensation for the injuries stated in the forensic medical certificate of Behbahan city, which must be paid within one lunar year from the date of the crime, for the private aspect of the charge of intentional assault and to serve 2 years of imprisonment, for the public aspect of the charge of intentional assault (charge under Section A), to serve 1 year of imprisonment and to serve 74 lashes, for the charge of disturbing public order (charge under Section B), and to serve 1 year of imprisonment for the charge of rebellion (charge under Section C). The punishment under Section (A) is applicable to him.

In another part of the verdict issued regarding these individuals, it is stated: "The defendants in the first to twenty-fifth ranks and the defendants in the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth ranks are sentenced, based on Articles 46, 52, and 54 of the Islamic Penal Code, since they did not effectively intervene in the riots and are not considered to be the main leaders, and the vast majority of them do not have an effective criminal record and did not play a role in the destruction and burning of public property, therefore their imprisonment, fine, and flogging are suspended for 5 years. If the defendants commit one of the crimes punishable by hadd, qisas, blood money, or ta'zir up to the seventh degree during the suspension period, a suspended sentence will also be imposed in addition to the punishment for the latter crime."

In another part of this judgment, regarding the complaint and request of the law enforcement and military officers, it is prepared: "The complaint and request of the law enforcement and military officers on behalf of the Public Treasury Fund in accordance with Article 85, in accordance with the request of the honorable prosecutor to the 2 criminal courts that were present at the scene of the riots based on their organizational and administrative duties to restore order, the verdict condemning the Public Treasury Fund to pay 1.75% of the full blood money to the injured Mr. Abdolhossein Kavousi, to pay 1.566% of the full blood money to the injured Mr. Sajjad Karamfardian, to pay 1% of the full blood money to the injured Mr. Alireza Mansurnejad, to pay 0.5% of the full blood money to the injured Mr. Mohammadreza Rouhanifar, to pay 2% of the full blood money to the injured Mr. Hedayatollah Askarizadeh Nazari, to pay 5.65% of the full blood money to the injured Mr. Mehdi Makif, to pay 6.058% of the full blood money to the injured Mr. Amin Nakoei Nasab, and to pay 1.55% of the full blood money to the injured Mr. Hamzeh. Alipour and to pay 1.8% of the full compensation to the injured Mr. Mohsen Bagherpour and to pay 3.7% of the full compensation to the injured Mr. Gholamreza Bi-Niaz and to pay 37.483% of the full compensation to the injured Mr. Ali Mohammadi Darabi and to pay 2% of the full compensation to the injured Mr. Abdollah Joumard and to pay 1.5% of the full compensation to the injured Mr. Seyed Mohsen Mousavipour and to pay 1.95% of the full compensation to the injured Mr. Mansour Ehsani and to pay 0.8% of the full compensation to the injured Mr. Qodratollah Darsatkar and to pay 0.5% of the full compensation to the injured Mr. Ali Hamedi Manesh and to pay 1.033% of the full compensation to the injured Mr. Mohammad Ali Taghizadeh and to pay 1.45% of the full compensation to the injured Mr. Ali Shahrooni and to pay 2% of the full compensation to the injured Mr. Kazem Mir-Moghaddam and to pay 49.65% of the full compensation to the injured Mr. Abdolsamad Oraman and to pay The court issues and announces a full 3.4% blood money payment to the injured Mr. Lotfollah Kheradmand, a 47% blood money payment to the injured Mr. Safdar Pourchaki, a 1.3% blood money payment to the injured Mr. Seyed Ali Yousefanzadeh, and a 0.65% blood money payment to the injured Mr. Saleh Farahmand. Regarding the complaint and request of Messrs. 1- Safdar Pourchaki, 2- Iman Alafchin, 3- Ali Asghar Pouranzadeh on behalf of the Bait-ul-Mal Fund, considering that first: the filing of the complaint by the injured parties was at a time other than the time of filing the case, and that it is doubtful that the injured parties were injured in the gathering that is the subject of the case, and the possibility that they were injured in an incident other than the aforementioned incident is not far-fetched, and second: assuming that they were injured in the alleged incident, in light of the warnings from the police, security authorities, and the media to not gather, but in line with the invitation of hostile media, they have taken action to attend the riots, and with the justification that we were merely spectators, we are requesting blood money. This is while adhering to the rule of action ((al-Qadam Musqat al-Damaan)) and that the payment of blood money from the Bait-ul-Mal Muslims should be in limited and exceptional cases, therefore, in general, the request of the named parties is rejected in this regard. Regarding the other individuals listed in the case, including officials, etc., in light of the introduction of the named parties to the Forensic Medicine Department and the failure to provide "The forensic medical certificate of this authority does not face any obligation in this regard."

The final part of the verdict issued regarding the defendants in this case states: "The verdict issued regarding the defendants in the sixth, eighth, tenth, twelfth, fifteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, thirty-first, thirty-second, thirty-third, thirty-fifth, and thirty-sixth rows is in person and can be appealed to the Khuzestan Provincial Courts of Appeal within twenty days after notification. The verdict issued regarding the other defendants is in absentia and can be appealed to the same court within twenty days after notification and then can be appealed to the Khuzestan Provincial Courts of Appeal within twenty days (In addition, regarding the accusation of Ahmad Hatempour, son of Rahman, and Maryam (Kowsar) Payab, son of Toufani, regarding propaganda activities against the regime, an indictment was wrongly issued to Criminal Court 2 and an indictment should be prepared for the Mahshahr Revolutionary Court. Therefore, the esteemed office "The case has been returned to the prosecutor's office so that an indictment can be prepared for the Mahshahr Revolutionary Court."

The court hearing to hear the charges against these citizens was held on October 11, 2020, at Branch 102 of the Criminal Court in Behbahan. The court order regarding the hearing states, "Some of the defendants or their lawyers have submitted a bill due to the crowding of defendants during the hearing and in order to observe social distancing regarding the coronavirus disease."

Among these individuals, Ahmad Hatempour was previously sentenced in the second part of his case by the First Branch of the Mahshahr Revolutionary Court to six months of imprisonment and two years of membership in political parties, groups, and factions as an additional punishment for “propaganda activity against the regime and in favor of groups and organizations opposed to the regime.” This sentence was confirmed in the Court of Appeal some time ago. “Singing the song ‘My School Friend’, chanting the slogan ‘Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, I will sacrifice my life for Iran’, and calling the victims of the nationwide protests of November 2019 martyrs” are cited as examples of the charges.

HRANA had previously identified 90 citizens arrested during the November 2019 protests in Behbahan in a report on February 8, 2019. During the November 2019 protests in Behbahan’s National Bank Square, a number of citizens living in the city, including Mehrdad Dashtini, Mahmoud Dashtini, Farzad Ansarifar, Mohammad Hossein Qanavati, Ehsan Abdollahnajed, and Mohammad Hashem Dar, were shot and killed by security forces.

The November protests are a series of nationwide protests that began on Friday, November 14, 2019, with the announcement of an unprecedented increase in gasoline prices in dozens of Iranian cities, with an unprecedented presence of protesters on the streets, and continued for several days. Mohammad Javad Kolivand, a representative of the people of Karaj in the parliament, said that these protests took place in 719 places in the country. Seyyed Hossein Naqvi Hosseini, the then spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the parliament, also announced the number of detainees in the recent protests at around 7,000. According to reports from human rights organizations, hundreds of people also died as a result of these bloody protests.

Source: HRANA