Whereas Mohammad Hosseini’s execution was supposed as a message from Tehran that involvement in ongoing antiestablishment protests is not going to be tolerated, his reminiscence lives on as a sufferer of state repression.
The 39-year-old poultry employee and community-minded coach had no assist from these closest to him as he confronted fees of killing a member of Iran’s paramilitary forces as mourners demonstrated in a metropolis exterior the Iranian capital in November.
After being discovered responsible of “corruption on Earth” in a rushed trial, Hosseini acquired no visits from mates and relations as he sat on loss of life row. No one, not even his three siblings, pleaded publicly for his life to be spared earlier than he was hanged in early January, and experiences recommend that nobody instantly claimed his physique.
His brother, with whom Hosseini didn’t have a detailed relationship, was given his physique solely after he promised “to not converse to anybody and bury him in silence” sources informed RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.
However within the weeks following his loss of life, Hosseini has been more and more embraced by supporters who see themselves as “moms,” “brothers,” and “sisters” of a sufferer of state repression who lived a easy life, handled medical situations, and gave to the neighborhood by coaching impoverished youngsters within the martial arts.
Hosseini was hanged on January 7 together with 22-year-old Mohammad Mehdi Karimi. The 2 had been convicted for the November 3 killing of Basij militia member Ruhollah Ajamian in Karaj, a metropolis simply west of Tehran.
Authorities stated Ajamian died from a number of blows from “knives and different onerous objects, together with stones” allegedly delivered by a bunch of mourners marking 40 days for the reason that loss of life of a demonstrator. The slain protester is only one of greater than 500 victims of Iran’s violent crackdown on the mass demonstrations that broke out in over 100 cities throughout the nation following the loss of life in police custody of Mahsa Amini in September. The 22-year-old lady had been detained for allegedly not sporting her hijab, or head scarf, correctly.
In response to the Iranian authorities, Ajamian was unarmed when he was attacked whereas trying to open a street closed by the mourners.
Hosseini and Karimi, who had been sentenced to loss of life following a fast-tracked trial by which they weren’t given entry to authorized illustration of their alternative, every denied the allegations in opposition to them.
Their trial lasted lower than every week and relied on confessions the boys gave underneath torture, in keeping with Amnesty Worldwide, which famous that state media aired doubtlessly damning video testimony even earlier than their case bought to courtroom.
Hosseini, who reportedly handled bipolar dysfunction, was proven saying that he was on his strategy to the cemetery in Karaj to go to his dad and mom’ graves when he noticed “a younger man who had fallen to the bottom.”
“As a result of I’ve psychological points, I ran away,” he stated within the video, which additionally included photographs of martial arts weapons taken from Hosseini’s dwelling as proof.
“These are for sports activities, expensive,” Hosseini stated when requested concerning the weapons.
Allegations Of Torture
In one other video additionally printed by state media, he stated he spent “lower than 10 seconds” on the scene of Ajamian’s killing, and instructed that the Basij member was already useless.
Lawyer Mohammad Sharifzadeh Ardakani, who was initially barred from representing Hosseini, stated on December 18 that he managed to fulfill him in jail, the place the accused tearfully stated he had been tied up, kicked within the head, and shocked with electrical energy to make him confess to his alleged crimes.
“An individual’s confession underneath torture has no authorized advantage,” Ardakani stated on Twitter. He was subsequently charged over his feedback and launched on bail.
Ardakani later stated that after Hosseini was convicted he filed for a retrial, however had not managed to persuade the courtroom to halt the loss of life sentence. He stated he came upon about his consumer’s execution as he headed to debate the case with the authorities.
Particulars about Hosseini’s luckless life led to an outpouring of grief and unhappiness. A photograph taken throughout his trial the place he was seen holding his face in an obvious state of shock and disbelief went viral.
“I take into consideration your loneliness, the mom you did not have to cry for you, the daddy who wasn’t there to shout your identify,” journalist Sadaf Fatemi wrote on Twitter.
Gohar Eshghi, the mom of blogger Sattar Beheshti killed in 2001 within the custody of Iran’s cyberpolice, referred to as on authorities handy Hosseini’s physique over to her. Camelia Sajadian, whose son Hassan Torkman was reportedly killed in Iran’s ongoing crackdown on antiestablishment protests, introduced that she had organized for a gravestone for Hosseini, referring to him as her “expensive son.”
Others have visited Hosseini’s grave and showered it with flowers, distributed meals to the poor in his reminiscence, or supplied their condolences with feedback on his Instagram web page, which shortly gained over 60,000 followers.
“I did not know you till three weeks in the past, I hadn’t heard your identify and I had no concept who you had been. However now I go to your web page and cry for you want a sister who has misplaced a brother,” one lady commented underneath a photograph by which Hosseini was proven working towards martial arts.
Hosseini’s office, against this, didn’t enable any form of memorial for him, one in every of his colleagues to Radio Farda, whereas different sources stated he was by no means knowledgeable that his execution was imminent.
“Often prisoners [on death row] are taken to solitary confinement the evening earlier than their hanging, however Hosseini was not taken to a solitary cell,” one supply informed Radio Farda on situation of anonymity. “[The authorities] didn’t need anybody to seek out out that he was about to be executed.”
Hosseini is one in every of 4 individuals who have been hanged in Iran in reference to the nationwide protests that started in September.
The executions have been condemned inside and out of doors the nation, with UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk saying that they quantity to “state sanctioned killing.”
Rights teams have warned that about two dozen extra who’ve been sentenced to loss of life or await trial are prone to being executed.
