Hosseini Mohammadi, Imprisoned Protester, Acquitted of Serious Charges

A member of the committee for following up on detained artists reported the acquittal of Hosseini Mohammadi, an imprisoned protester, from serious charges that had led to a death sentence against him. The Iran Watch website reported on Wednesday, May 17, quoting Mahdi Kouhian, that the court, after revoking Hosseini Mohammadi's death sentence, sentenced the 26-year-old theater actor to 10 years in prison. Mr. Kouhian announced that an appeal has been filed against this ruling and the final verdict of the court has not yet been issued. According to this lawyer, the charges against Hosseini Mohammadi involve behavioral violence and physical harm to another person, and for this reason, "it does not fall under general amnesty." Hosseini Mohammadi was one of the defendants in the case of a killed Basij member named Rouhollah Ajamian, and he was arrested on November 5 last year in Karaj, where the Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death. Following the issuance of this sentence, the Association of Critics, Writers, and Researchers of Theater issued a statement in December of last year, stating that the death penalty would exacerbate the cycle of violence in society and called for the release of protesters, especially imprisoned artists. Hosseini Mohammadi had won the Best Actor award at the Creative University Festival in 2019 for his role in the play "Chaharlam." The judiciary has executed two defendants in the case of the killed Basij member, named Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini. These two detainees were deprived of access to a chosen lawyer and were forced to confess under torture during their detention. Their executions sparked a wave of criticism and condemnation in Iran and worldwide. The new sentences from the same previous branch of the Revolutionary Court; Hamid Ghareh-Hassanlou was sentenced to 15 years and his wife to 5 years in prison. The artists' trade associations protested against the death sentences of street protesters. The judiciary of Alborz: None of the defendants in the Ajamian case have been "amnestied." A Guardian report on death sentences in Iran; "fabricated" trials in secret courts.