New details from the case of Mohsen Lorestani; a singer accused of "corruption on earth"
An informed source told VOA that the court hearing on the case of Mohsen Lorestani, an Iranian singer accused of "corruption on earth," was held without his lawyer present at the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran.
An informed source told VOA that the court hearing on the case of Mohsen Lorestani, an Iranian singer accused of "corruption on earth," was held without his lawyer present at the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran.
On Monday, October 5, VOA contacted Seyyed Kazem Hosseini, his defense attorney, to obtain more information about the status of Mohsen Lorestani's case, but he declined to be interviewed. However, a knowledgeable source told VOA that Mr. Lorestani's trial was held on Monday, October 5, without his defense attorney present, at Branch 28 of Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Court.
Previously, Iranian media had described Mohsen Lorestani's accusation as "corruption on earth." Although there is no precise information about the specifics of this accusation, media outlets close to security agencies had stated, quoting the Iranian singer's lawyer, that the subject of Mr. Lorestani's accusation was related to "moral and private issues" that he had published in "cyberspace" and that he had no "private complainant."
Some sites close to security institutions have accused the singer of "homosexuality." However, a source close to Mr. Lorestani has denied this claim, saying that these instances are not true and that we hope that everything will be clarified very soon in the future.
Article 286 of the Islamic Penal Code, due to its ambiguity and generality, covers a very wide range of different activities, thus leaving the hands of accusers and sentencers open to any interpretation. The scope of this legal article is very comprehensive, covering various types of accusations - from tangible actions such as "crimes against the physical integrity of individuals", "arson and destruction", and "distribution of toxic, microbial and dangerous substances" to intangible cases that mainly rely on interpretation by the court, such as "crimes against the internal or external security of the country", "spreading lies", "disrupting the country's economic system" - and relying on them, it recognizes individuals as corrupters on earth and prescribes the death penalty for them.
Mohsen Lorestani was arrested by security forces at his mother's home in Saadat Abad, Tehran, on March 3, 2018, and has been in prison ever since.
According to a report by Amnesty International, a total of 253 executions were carried out in Iran last year, which is more than a third of all recorded executions in the world.
The US State Department has repeatedly and on various occasions condemned the violent confrontations and widespread repression of protesters, as well as the repeated and persistent violations of the rights of Iranian citizens by the ruling regime in that country.
Source: Voice of America
