67 Sentences of Conviction Issued for Arrested Dervishes

The Tehran Prosecutor announced the issuance of 67 sentences of conviction for the Gonabadi dervishes arrested on Pasdaran Street in Tehran, as well as 126 indictments for those detained during the protests of December 2017. Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi announced these updates during his third meeting with media managers this year. He stated that until last week, '67 sentences' had been issued for the Gonabadi dervishes arrested on Pasdaran Street, involving 'imprisonment and supplementary punishment.' This judicial official did not provide an explanation regarding what he meant by 'supplementary punishment' for the detainees. His reference is to the arrest of over 500 Gonabadi dervishes whose protest gathering on February 19, 2018, near the house of Nour Ali Tabandeh, the leader of this order, turned violent due to the intervention of security forces and plainclothes motorcyclists. Following the publication of reports and images from these clashes, there were also reports of severe 'beatings' of the arrested dervishes and 'fractures of the skull, jaw, and several teeth' and the poor physical condition of some of them. Mohammad Raji, one of the arrested Gonabadi dervishes, reportedly died in custody a few days after his arrest, according to his family. However, judicial officials denied that Mr. Raji died in police custody, claiming he was killed during the clashes in the street. Mohammad Thalath, another Gonabadi dervish, was sentenced to death for allegedly running over three police officers with a bus during these clashes. Security officials also reported that two Basij members were killed and 30 law enforcement officers were injured in these clashes. In late May of this year, a closed trial for dozens of Gonabadi dervishes began in the Revolutionary Court and Tehran Criminal Court. Judge Jabari, head of Branch 1180 of the Tehran Criminal Court, stated that the charges against most of the dervishes referred to this court were 'disturbing public order and tranquility.' 'Conspiracy against security,' 'actions against national security,' 'disturbing order,' and 'disobedience to police orders' are uniform charges raised against several dervishes. Earlier, Moussa Ghazanfari Abadi, head of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, announced that the files of over 70 Gonabadi dervishes had been sent to this court, labeling their charges as 'security-related.' Faezah Abdi Pour, an activist among the dervishes active on social media, also wrote that 'for 23 Gonabadi dervishes, a total of 119 years of punitive imprisonment and exile and lashes have been issued.' Alireza Roshan, one of the dervishes who left Iran after the recent events, published part of the indictment issued for several dervishes. This indictment stated that the Gonabadi dervishes are 'one of the potential capacities' that 'enemies' have invested in, and among the 'issues' raised against them are 'licentiousness, innovation in religion, and the washing of Islam.' Regarding the detainees from the December protests, the Tehran Prosecutor also mentioned that 126 indictments have been issued so far, with 'almost 50 percent resulting in sentences.' Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi had previously announced that 10 sentences of conviction had been issued for the accused in the December protests, with sentences ranging from one to five years. The Tehran Prosecutor also reported the issuance of indictments for 150 individuals. On May 6, Gholamhossein Esmaeili, head of the Tehran Judiciary, announced the issuance of nearly one hundred indictments for those arrested during the nationwide protests in December, with some receiving sentences for actions against 'national security.' In December 2017, widespread protests occurred in over one hundred cities in Iran, initially starting with the slogan 'No to Price Hikes' in Mashhad and quickly extending to all political, cultural, and social arenas. According to the Ministry of Interior, over five thousand people were arrested and 22 were killed during these protests, with strong slogans against the domestic and foreign policies of the Islamic Republic and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In various cities in Iran, including the religious city of Qom, demonstrators expressed regret over the 1979 Revolution and sent greetings to the Pahlavi dynasty. These indictments and sentences have been issued at a time when several official figures in the Islamic Republic and sociologists have warned of the potential for similar protests to occur again in Iran.