Whereas Mohammad Hosseini’s execution was meant as a message from Tehran that involvement in ongoing antiestablishment protests won’t 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 expenses of killing a member of Iran’s paramilitary forces as mourners demonstrated in a metropolis outdoors the Iranian capital in November.
After being discovered responsible of “corruption on Earth” in a rushed trial, Hosseini obtained no visits from mates and kin as he sat on demise row. No person, not even his three siblings, pleaded publicly for his life to be spared earlier than he was hanged in early January, and reviews recommend that nobody instantly claimed his physique.
His brother, with whom Hosseini didn’t have an in depth relationship, was given his physique solely after he promised “to not communicate to anybody and bury him in silence” sources instructed RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.
However within the weeks following his demise, 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 circumstances, and gave to the neighborhood by coaching impoverished kids within the martial arts.
Hosseini was hanged on January 7 together with 22-year-old Mohammad Mehdi Karimi. The 2 have been convicted for the November 3 killing of Basij militia member Ruhollah Ajamian in Karaj, a metropolis simply west of Tehran.
Authorities mentioned Ajamian died from a number of blows from “knives and different arduous objects, together with stones” allegedly delivered by a bunch of mourners marking 40 days for the reason that demise 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 demise in police custody of Mahsa Amini in September. The 22-year-old lady had been detained for allegedly not carrying her hijab, or head scarf, correctly.
In keeping with the Iranian authorities, Ajamian was unarmed when he was attacked whereas making an attempt to open a street closed by the mourners.
Hosseini and Karimi, who have been sentenced to demise following a fast-tracked trial through which they weren’t given entry to authorized illustration of their alternative, every denied the allegations towards them.
Their trial lasted lower than per week and relied on confessions the lads gave underneath torture, in line with Amnesty Worldwide, which famous that state media aired probably damning video testimony even earlier than their case bought to court docket.
Hosseini, who reportedly handled bipolar dysfunction, was proven saying that he was on his method 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 mentioned within the video, which additionally included photographs of martial arts weapons taken from Hosseini’s residence as proof.
“These are for sports activities, expensive,” Hosseini mentioned when requested concerning the weapons.
Allegations Of Torture
In one other video additionally printed by state media, he mentioned 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, mentioned on December 18 that he managed to fulfill him in jail, the place the accused tearfully mentioned 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 benefit,” Ardakani mentioned on Twitter. He was subsequently charged over his feedback and launched on bail.
Ardakani later mentioned that after Hosseini was convicted he filed for a retrial, however had not managed to persuade the court docket to halt the demise sentence. He mentioned he came upon about his shopper’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 title,” journalist Sadaf Fatemi wrote on Twitter.
Gohar Eshghi, the mom of blogger Sattar Beheshti killed in 2001 within the custody of Iran’s cyberpolice, known 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 provided 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 title and I had no thought who you have 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 through which Hosseini was proven training martial arts.
Hosseini’s office, against this, didn’t permit any form of memorial for him, one among his colleagues to Radio Farda, whereas different sources mentioned he was by no means knowledgeable that his execution was imminent.
“Often prisoners [on death row] are taken to solitary confinement the night time earlier than their hanging, however Hosseini was not taken to a solitary cell,” one supply instructed 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 among 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 outdoors 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 demise or await trial are liable to being executed.
