The 22-year-old Mohammed-Mehdi K. and the 20-year-old Seyyed-Mohammed H. are “the main perpetrators of the crime that led to the unjust martyrdom of Ruhollah Ajayan,” reported the state news agency IRNA, citing the judiciary on Saturday. According to the judicial authority, the two men had admitted in court to having stabbed an allegedly unarmed security officer with a knife during protests in Karaj, a suburb of the capital Tehran.
According to the human rights organization Amnesty International, the court that sentenced Mohammed-Mehdi K., a 22-year-old karate master, relied on forced confessions. Seyyed-Mohammed H.’s lawyer had already communicated in December that his client had been severely tortured and that confessions extracted under torture had no legal basis. Iran denies that confessions are extracted under torture.
Petition for clemency denied
According to the Misan report, the judiciary’s web portal, the appeal for clemency by the two defendants was rejected by the Supreme Court and the death sentence upheld. Three other people were sentenced to death for the death of Adzhamian, a member of the Basij militia. Eleven defendants received prison sentences. The militia is a paramilitary volunteer unit attached to the powerful Revolutionary Guards. It plays an important role in the crackdown on demonstrators.
In the course of the nationwide protests, the rap musicians Mohsen S. and Majid-Resa R. were executed in December for the alleged murder and attempted murder of two Basij members. The executions caused horror at home and abroad. The EU then decided on further sanctions against Iran, also because of the serious violations of human rights, which hit the country’s economy hard.
NGO: Arrested over 19,000 protesters
The figures on those arrested and sentenced to death are contradictory. Some had their death sentences overturned in appeal courts. There is talk of 20 demonstrators who are said to be on the judiciary’s death list. Amnesty International spoke of 26 people sentenced to the death penalty in December. The Iranian leadership has so far neither confirmed nor denied these and similar statements.
According to the latest estimates by the US-based organization Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), more than 500 people have died in the protests, including 70 minors and almost 70 police and security forces. More than 19,000 demonstrators were arrested. The trigger for the nationwide protests was the death of the Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini in mid-September. She died in police custody after being arrested by the religious police for breaking Islamic dress codes.
Judgment against renowned photographer
A court in Tehran also ruled against a renowned Iranian photographer for taking part in the protests. According to the media, the judiciary announced on Saturday that Jalda Moaiery had been sentenced to a two-month park cleaning. In addition, as a punishment, she had to write a 100-page research report on an Iranian cleric, the judiciary said.
The photographer herself confirmed the court judgment reported by the daily newspaper “Schargh” on Instagram and posted a video of herself in an orange uniform at the new job. “Since I’m not allowed to reflect the realities of my country as a photographer, I’m very happy to do this honorable work,” said the 41-year-old on Instagram. The award-winning Moaiery was arrested in September while taking photos of protests. She was released on bail at the end of December.
The verdict also includes a six-year suspended sentence and a two-year ban on leaving the country. She was not allowed to use her cell phone or social networks for the same amount of time. She was also banned from living in Tehran and the capital’s suburbs for two years, the freelance photographer shared on Instagram. According to the judiciary, she could appeal the verdict. Moaiery had trouble with the judiciary in 2019 because of her pictures during the political unrest at the time. According to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) in New York, more than 80 media workers have already been arrested during the recent protests.
