Confirming two death sentences for those arrested in the January 2017 protests

"These death sentences are to scare people"

In an interview with the Human Rights Campaign in Iran, an informed source reported that the Supreme Court had upheld the death sentences of five of the protesters arrested in January 2017, and said that despite the denials of the Isfahan Provincial Judiciary, the death sentences of Mehdi Salehi Qale Shahrokhi, Mohammad Bastami, Abbas Mohammadi, Majid Nazari Kandari, and Hadi Kiani have been upheld by the Supreme Court.

On Sunday, August 25, 2020, the Public Relations Department of the Isfahan Provincial Judiciary, quoting the head of the Judiciary, denied the news published regarding the confirmation of the death sentences of 5 of those arrested in the January 2017 protests, stating that "so far, no confirmation of the execution of the sentence has been received from the higher judicial authorities in this regard."

However, an informed source told the campaign that these sentences were confirmed by the Supreme Court and the families of the five people were told that their cases were before the Amnesty Commission.

According to videos posted on social media on Wednesday, August 29, 2020, the families of Mehdi Salehi Qale Shahrokhi, Mohammad Bastami, Abbas Mohammadi, Majid Nazari Kondri, and Hadi Kiani gathered in front of the Nikbakht Courthouse in Isfahan. An informed source told the campaign: “They promised amnesty for Eid al-Adha to silence the families, but the families were worried that they would be executed secretly. That is why they gathered in front of the Nikbakht Courthouse and in response they were pressured not to give any information or interviews. During this entire time, they kept promising their release and forced the families to remain silent. They gave the death sentence, saying it would be overturned in court. When it was confirmed in court, they said they would be pardoned, and they kept the families in suspense all this time.”

According to this informed source, none of these 5 people were arrested during the January 2017 protests, and Abbas Mohammadi was not in Khomeini, Isfahan during the January 2017 protests and was traveling. He told the campaign: “These children were arrested in February, not during the January protests. They broke into the middle of the night and arrested 14 people in the Joy Abad neighborhood of Khomeini, Isfahan. The families did not know where they were for 40 days, and then they learned that they were in the IRGC Intelligence Detention Center. Now, nine of these 14 people have been sentenced to 5 to 6 years in prison by the Second Branch of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court, and 5 have been sentenced to death twice on charges of war crimes and rebellion. All of them were subjected to the worst torture to make them confess falsely. In court, they also told the judge that they were subjected to the worst torture to make them confess falsely against themselves. They were tortured to make them say that they burned the Quran, caused unrest, and killed people.”

"Insurrection through effective efforts and activities to advance the goals of the rioters, war through the use of firearms and the intention to deprive the community of security and shooting at officers, corruption on earth through disrupting public security and leading rioters leading to disruption of public order and security and disturbing public opinion" are the charges attributed to those arrested in January 2017.

During the January 2017 protests, dozens of people were killed by gunfire from military and security forces in Khomeini City, Isfahan, and other cities in Iran. The protests began in the city of Mashhad on January 28, 2017, but the unrest quickly spread to other cities, and security forces responded to the protests with increasingly deadly violence.

Asghar Haroon Al-Rashidi is one of the Khomeini martyrs in Isfahan during the January 2017 protests. According to the campaign’s informed source, “His family complained to the Basij and IRGC forces, and the IRGC intelligence is blaming these five people and saying you killed them. Mr. Al-Rashidi was present at the protests and was shot in the back, and there are a lot of films, videos, and photos that show that the security forces were shooting at the protesters, but these five people have been accused of murdering him, while there is no document or film footage. There is no documentary evidence that these five people committed any crime. But they were accused of forming a gang. We don’t know why these five people were chosen. The government needed how many people to poison its eyes, and these five were chosen. These death sentences are to scare people.

"If they are right in saying that a crime has been committed, let them hold a public trial and present the evidence and documents in open court."

This informed source told the campaign: “They have accused them of burning the Quran. Apparently, during the January 2016 protests, a building caught fire and everything inside the building was burned, and they say the Quran was burned and these five people set it on fire. They have not provided any documents or evidence. In addition, one of these five people, Abbas Mohammadi, was not in Khomeini Shahr at all during the January 2016 protests and was traveling.”

At the same time, campaign sources have reported that lawyers for Mehdi Salehi Qala Shahrokhi, Mohammad Bastami, Abbas Mohammadi, Majid Nazari Kondri, and Hadi Kiani were hired lawyers during the trial.

In recent days, Twitter users have called for the "immediate cancellation of the execution" of these five people using the hashtag #Don'tExecute.

Source: Human Rights Campaign