Iran has made public the pressured “confessions” of a number of protesters, elevating considerations amongst rights teams that extra demise sentences shall be issued and carried out after “sham” trials.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-affiliated Tasnim information company printed statements on December 14 by Dena Sheibani, a snowboard teacher and graphic artist, Hesam Mousavi, a mountain climbing teacher, Amir Arslan Mahdavi, a snowboard teacher, Eshraq Najafabadi, a biking teacher, and Mohammad Khiveh, a mountaineer and mountain climbing information, claiming that they have been unsuccessful in an try and detonate a bomb within the southern Iranian metropolis of Shiraz.
In a video, the 5 speak about their alleged roles within the bombing operation. However family and buddies instantly rejected the “confessions,” saying they have been after torture classes and that not one of the 5 had entry to a lawyer.
Experiences printed on social media accused safety authorities of “laying the groundwork” with the video for issuing heavy sentences towards quite a few athletes and artists arrested for talking out in the course of the latest protests in Shiraz.
Authorities have been threatening for weeks to ratchet up their brutal crackdown on unrest that was touched off in mid-September by the demise of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini whereas in police custody. Lawmakers have pushed the judiciary to render harsh penalties — together with the demise penalty — in trials for these arrested throughout protests over Amini’s demise.
To this point Iranian authorities have adopted by with their threats by executing two protesters.
Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged in a public execution on December 12 — simply 23 days after he was arrested — following his conviction for killing two members of Iran’s safety forces. The group Iran Human Rights mentioned Rahnavard’s sentencing was based mostly on “coerced confessions, after a grossly unfair course of and a sham trial.”
In the meantime, Moshen Shekari was executed publicly on December 8 after an enchantment of his sentence was rejected by Iran’s Supreme Courtroom. He was accused of allegedly wounding a safety officer.
Additionally, Farhad and Farzad Tahazadeh, two brothers from the northwestern Iranian metropolis of Oshnavieh, are amongst a number of protesters who’re in imminent hazard of execution.
Experiences additionally point out that Iranian skilled footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani faces accusations of “waging warfare towards God” and “corruption on Earth,” that are punishable by demise and infrequently leveled in instances allegedly involving espionage or makes an attempt to overthrow Iran’s authorities.
In response, the worldwide skilled footballers’ union FIFPRO introduced in a press release on December 12 that it was “shocked and sickened” by studies of Nasr-Azadani’s state of affairs as a result of he campaigned for ladies’s rights and fundamental freedom in his nation.
Since Amini’s demise, Iranians have flooded streets throughout the nation in protest, with ladies and even schoolgirls making unprecedented exhibits of assist within the largest menace to the Islamic authorities for the reason that 1979 revolution.
The regime has blamed Western governments for the unrest and has responded to the protests with a bloody crackdown that human rights teams say has left virtually 500 lifeless and a whole bunch extra injured. 1000’s extra have been arrested, together with many protesters, in addition to journalists, legal professionals, activists, and others, amid considerations concerning the costs towards them.
The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Group says the variety of executions in Iran exceeds 500 this yr.
