A Year Later; Ajmian's Brother Says the Executions of Mohammad Hosseini and Mohammad Mahdi Karami Had 'Nothing to Do with His Brother's Murder'

Nearly a year after the executions of Mohammad Hosseini and Mohammad Mahdi Karami in connection with the case of a Basij member's death, the brother of the victim states that 'the two who were executed' had no relation to 'my brother's murder' and that 'their crime was moharebeh (waging war against God).' Just days after the controversial claims made by the father of Rouhollah Ajmian, the Basij member killed during the protests of 2022, who called for the 'execution' of all defendants in the case, his brother has now also demanded the execution of Dr. Hamid Ghara-Hassanlou and his wife. Hossein Ajmian, in an interview with the Etemad newspaper, stated that 'the issue is that the person who caused my brother's death has not been executed.' Ajmian claimed that 'in fact, this gentleman (Dr. Ghara-Hassanlou) killed my brother. But because he is wealthy and a doctor, he has many connections, and ... no one has dealt with him.' In part of this interview, the brother of Rouhollah Ajmian said: 'In this case, they executed two homeless people, but they did not execute the main perpetrator, who was a doctor.' He reiterated his father's remarks, stating that 'some influential individuals and groups have abused their positions and changed the course of the case. We just want this individual and his wife to be executed according to the law.' Yesterday, on Tuesday, November 7, Ali Akbar Velayati's advisor responded to criticisms regarding his intervention in halting and changing the execution sentence of Dr. Hamid Ghara-Hassanlou, stating that 'repeated messages from international medical circles regarding the intensification of sanctions in the medical field and frequent contacts from medical associations with Velayati' led him to 'merely request further review' in a letter to a senior official of the system. Saleh Eskandari emphasized that the request of 102 heads of medical systems across the country and a petition of over 6,000 doctors regarding Ghara-Hassanlou's innocence also had an impact on this action. According to Eskandari, Velayati 'has reached certainty on this report, and certainty is the basis of legal evidence,' but emphasized that 'he has had no correspondence with the judiciary on this matter.' Velayati's advisor considered the statements of Rouhollah Ajmian's father to be based on 'false information' provided to him by 'malicious individuals' and described some reactions as 'a form of political settling of accounts with Mr. Velayati.' Mirza Vali Ajmian, the father of Rouhollah Ajmian, attacked Ali Akbar Velayati, advisor to Ali Khamenei, during a live television program on Wednesday night, November 1, accusing him of being responsible for the non-execution of more individuals due to his son's death. Without providing evidence, he stated that '80 individuals were accused in the case, of which only 8 are in custody, and if Velayati turns his head, these 8 will also be released.' As reported by Iranian media, the father of this Basij member has called for more executions and, in response to the host's attempt to 'manage the program,' said that during several appearances on state television, 'he was told not to say anything about Velayati and that he was afraid of him.' According to images released from this program, the father of the killed Basij member stood up and left the studio, saying 'Velayati is the killer of my child.' The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Alborz province sentenced Hamid Ghara-Hassanlou, the accused doctor in the case of the killed Basij member Rouhollah Ajmian, to 15 years in prison in a new ruling in Farvardin of this year. Hamid Ghara-Hassanlou, along with his wife, Farzaneh, was arrested after security forces attacked their home following the 40th-day memorial of Hadith Najafi, one of the victims of the nationwide protests in Karaj. Ghara-Hassanlou, a 53-year-old doctor, was one of five individuals initially sentenced to death for 'killing a Basij member,' but this ruling was later overturned.