Amnesty International Calls for Immediate Cancellation of Death Sentences for Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hasani

On Thursday, January 17, Amnesty International highlighted the alarming increase in executions in Iran and urged the Iranian authorities to immediately revoke the death sentences of 69-year-old Behrouz Ehsani and 48-year-old Mehdi Hasani. Amnesty noted on its Instagram page that the two were coerced into 'confessing' after being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including prolonged solitary confinement. The organization described their trial by the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran as 'severely unfair.' Behrouz Ehsani-Islamloo and Mehdi Hasani were sentenced to death in late September on charges of 'rebellion, waging war against God, corruption on earth, gathering classified information, and conspiracy against national security' in Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court presided over by Iman Afshari. Additionally, membership in the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran is among the charges attributed to these two prisoners. Behrouz Ehsani was arrested at his home in Tehran on November 28, 2022, while Mehdi Hasani was detained in Zanjan while attempting to leave the country in September 2022 and was transferred to Evin Prison. According to HRANA, a news agency of human rights activists in Iran, Mr. Hasani, a father of two, was involved in real estate prior to his arrest. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recently reported that at least 901 people were executed by the Islamic Republic in 2024. The number of executions in Iran in 2023 was reported to be at least 853. The U.S. Department of State condemned the regime's increasing use of executions to suppress the people. On January 14, the Department emphasized its continued support for the Iranian people in the face of 'relentless human rights violations' by the Islamic Republic on its official Persian page on the social media platform 'X.'