Amnesty International Warns of Imminent Execution Risk for Reza Rasai, Kurdish Yarsani Protester

Amnesty International issued a statement warning of the imminent execution risk for Reza Rasai, a Kurdish Yarsani prisoner and one of those detained during the protests over the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini. In its statement on Thursday, February 8, the organization referred to the rejection of Mr. Rasai's appeal on January 15 by the Supreme Court, noting that his death sentence was issued after a "severely unfair trial based on his forced confessions obtained under torture, including beatings, electric shocks, suffocation, hanging, and sexual violence." Reza (Gholam-Reza) Rasai, a 34-year-old protester and follower of the "Ahl-e Haq" (Yarsan) faith in the city of "Shahneh" in Kermanshah province, faced charges of killing a police officer following his participation in protests in November 2022 and was sentenced to "qisas" (retribution). His death sentence was confirmed on December 16 by Branch 17 of the Supreme Court, and his lawyer's request for retrial was rejected on January 15. According to Amnesty International's statement, both branches of the Supreme Court ignored exculpatory evidence, including testimonies from key witnesses and Mr. Rasai's lawyer's statements regarding the incomplete investigations and the omission of forensic evidence. Amnesty International also reminded that Reza Rasai had been subjected to enforced disappearance during the first four months of his detention, during which agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tortured and mistreated him. The organization added that Mr. Rasai was deprived of access to adequate healthcare services during his detention, including treatment for injuries resulting from torture, such as broken fingers and toes. The legal advisory group Dadban reported on January 22 that the Supreme Court rejected the retrial request submitted by Reza Rasai's lawyers. His lawyers, objecting to the confirmation of the lower court's verdict by the Supreme Court, emphasized the "numerous flaws and ambiguities" in the case and requested a retrial, but the first branch of the Supreme Court stated that the lawyers' request was "legally insufficient" without addressing all the existing flaws and ambiguities in the case. Previously, a source close to Reza Rasai told VOA that despite eyewitness testimony and contradictions in the statements of other defendants, the court issued a death sentence based on the "judge's knowledge." According to this eyewitness, the incident leading to the death of Nader Birami on November 18 during the protests in Shahneh occurred after one of the officers got into a confrontation over mandatory hijab with one of the women present, and Nader Birami intervened and sprayed pepper spray on the people. The eyewitness stated that "people became angry at this act," and while "one shouted that Basijis and officers are attacking," the people also "attacked them," causing all the officers around Birami to flee and leave him alone in the middle. According to the informed source and based on the case documents, some attendees "stabbed him nine times," and in the footage released from the scene of the confrontation, "Reza is not in any of the videos," and "when Reza arrives," Birami is "lying half-dead, and people are gathered around him watching, and Reza is one of those standing there looking on." A source close to Rasai's family previously told VOA that "forensic medicine and all investigations have been directed to the conclusion that since there was a fatal blow, we must find a killer and execute him. This means they wanted to remove the case from the context of a collective brawl and find a killer for this individual."