Defendants in ‘Ekbatan Neighborhood’ Case Sentenced to Death

Branch 13 of the Criminal Court of Tehran sentenced the defendants in the “Ekbatan Neighborhood” case to death.

During the nationwide “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests that took shape in 1401 (2022), “Arman Aliverdi,” a Basij force member, was killed in November in the Ekbatan neighborhood of Tehran. Following this incident, security forces arrested 50 young residents of the Ekbatan neighborhood.

After arresting these individuals, the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic issued an indictment for 14 of them. In this case, 4 defendants were accused of “moharebeh” (enmity against God). Other charges filed against the individuals in this case included “complicity in deliberate murder” and “disruption of public order and peace.”

Prior to the final court session of these individuals, some human rights organizations reported torture and mistreatment of the defendants in this case, and many civil and political activists had warned about the possibility of issuing death sentences against the defendants in the aforementioned case.

The case of “Mohammad Mahdi Hosseini,” “Mahdi Imani,” “Milad Armon,” and “Navid Najaran” was transferred to Branch 13 of the Criminal Court of Tehran and another part of it to Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran under the presidency of Abolqasem Selavati after the defect was corrected in the current Shahrivar month.

“Payam Darfshan,” the lawyer of Hossein Nemati, announced ten days ago (November 13) that after the final court session, the bail of his client and three other defendants in this case named Alireza Barmarzpournak, Alireza Kafaei, and Amiremohammad Khosh-aqbal were unexpectedly changed to a detention order.

“Babak Paknia,” a legal counsel who represented some of these defendants, wrote this morning, Wednesday, November 23, on the social media platform X: “Branch 13 of the Criminal Court of Tehran has sentenced Milad Armon, Alireza Kafaei, Amiremohammad Khosh-aqbal, Navid Najaran, Hossein Nemati, and Alireza Barmarzpournak to qesas (retribution).” He further added that this verdict is subject to appeal.

The issuance of the death sentence against these defendants comes as their lawyers, political activists, and human rights advocates stated that their case contained numerous contradictions and the basic rights of these individuals were not observed during various stages of the trial.